Where She Belongs
by princesspomegranate
Summary: Years after visiting the Underground, Sarah finds herself locked away in a mental asylum. Magic is the reason for her being there, but can it also be the reason for her escape? Rated for later chapters. JarethxSarah.
1. Lunatic

She sat there, staring blankly, and rolling a peach across the table between her hands. A peach. The only problem was that there was nothing magical about this peach. Not that Sarah had ever _wanted_ another hallucinogenic peach dream- the drugs they gave her in this place were quite enough in her opinion.

Sarah's green eyes trailed across the table after the peach. The only reason they still let her have the fruit was because she'd never offered up any connection between peaches and the Underground. She'd learnt long ago that if she wanted to keep some part of the Underground with her, then she had to keep her mouth firmly closed- something that she had enormous trouble in doing successfully.

When she'd been brought to the asylum over a year ago, she'd already had everything else taken from her. Her friends, her family. Sure, they'd visited her at first, but after a while her friends had stopped making the journey to see her. Karen had refused to let Toby anywhere near his sister, who she had dubbed 'a bad influence' and effectively insane.

And her father, he would only ever visit once a month- a time that Sarah would admit was her least favourite moment in the sad little life she was leading these days. Because his visits only reminded her of what she was missing, and who, exactly, was the reason that she was missing it.

A noise from her side distracted her slightly, but Sarah didn't turn to investigate. She knew what it was. The people around her were far more heavily medicated than she was. _Supposedly_, it was breakfast time, but the trays of food were the only indicators of that. No one around her was eating- a few were drooling, or making low, mumbling and babbling noises. Some of them were slightly louder- like Brianna, the woman who'd made the noise that had startled her.

_How could you be so stupid as to end up here, Sarah?_ she asked herself. She'd asked herself that question so many times, and she knew the answer to it. But it made no difference. The only thing that really mattered was the fact that her father and stepmother had had her committed and nothing she could say or do could change that.

Sarah knew now that she should have seen the signs of it a long time ago. She knew that she should have taken more notice when Karen had started making her see a psychiatrist. And she knew that she probably should have kept her visit to the Underground and the friends she'd made there more of a secret than she had.

But for some reason, they had just started slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. It was like she just couldn't keep the Underground inside her mind. Her father and Karen had thought she was insane- that she had no idea of what was real or not. And the psychiatrists had agreed.

So Sarah had been locked in a mental institution. It was possibly the worst place she could have found herself, because Sarah knew; she _knew_ that she wasn't crazy. No one would believe her though, and she couldn't stop the literal Underground word vomit from springing free from her mind.

_Why are you so stupid, Sarah?_ she asked herself, finally picking up the peach and taking a bite out of it. She knew that if she didn't eat it soon, then the orderlies might take it away from her. They took _everything _away after too long. Sarah frowned and once again found herself uselessly wishing that things were different.

There was nothing in this place that had ever made her smile. They wouldn't let her write- because _pens_ were obviously far too dangerous to be allowed in her reach in case she should try and kill herself with it. And they wouldn't let her read. At all. They said that reading would only 'encourage the side of her that believed fiction was reality'; so Sarah hadn't read a book since she'd found herself in this place.

It seemed to Sarah, that their aim was to completely quash any sort of creativity in her in order to help her distinguish between what she thought was real and what _was _real. To them, at least. _This is stupid. The Underground_ is _real_, she thought angrily.

Sarah's eye flickered to the orderly heading her way and mentally she cringed. _Time for more drugs_, she thought almost angrily. _Drugs that I _don't_ need_. The slightly overweight woman with her hair pulled back into a bun stopped at Sarah's side and placed the tiny paper cup full of pills on the table. Sarah looked down at them for a moment before she heard the woman speak.

"Now Sarah, it's time to take your morning pills," the orderly said in a sing-song voice as if she was actually trying to help Sarah.

Sarah fought back the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't _need_ the pills that they gave her; the drugs. They only made her mind fuzzier and made it more likely for her to slip up about the Underground. She merely nodded to the woman and swallowed the pills without water.

That was another way she'd learned to cope in this place. She just didn't speak to anyone. It seemed to be the only way that she could stop herself from spurting more things out about the Underground. And more things that made them _certain_ that she really wasn't right in the head.

There was no getting around taking the pills though. She had tried on numerous occasions to avoid taking them- and all that that did was result in orderlies holding her down and forcing her to take a stronger dosage.

Sarah put down the half-eaten peach and stood up. She wanted to go back to her room before the drugs kicked in again. It was much better to be in private on the drugs. It helped her hold to her silence and resist talking about the Underground. Sarah walked slowly back to her room and once more caught sight of the locked door that she was fairly certain she'd never find her way through.

She opened the door to her well-lit room and looked around. Nothing had changed; and it was a simple and relatively empty as always. A bed. A dresser. A closet. And a bathroom adjoined to it. Her window had only a view of the almost lifeless garden they were sometimes allowed out into, but Sarah saw nothing apart from that.

With a sigh, Sarah slumped down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. The only sign that any time had passed at all came in the form of the person checking on her every fifteen minutes to make sure that she hadn't killed herself. It was a routine that she had long since realised. _This is ridiculous_, she thought for the thousandth time as her eyes closed and she tried to block out the world around her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Yes, I <strong>_**know**_**, I'm a terrible person. I shouldn't be starting **_**another**_** fic before finishing any of my others. I just can't help it! So, yeah, I'm an awful person an should stop starting new stories... Of course, if I did **_**that **_**then you wouldn' be reading this right now... :P**

**So anyway, I'd love to know what you think, especially as I was in two minds about posting this story. Hope you like it. :)**

**Kit xx**


	2. Dream

Sarah's eyes opened as if she had only been blinking. She was standing upright in a room that she was so familiar with. In a room that she saw many times in her dreams. The Goblin King's throne room was exactly the same as it was when she'd found her way there as a fifteen year old girl. _Of course it hasn't changed. You're _dreaming_, Sarah_, she told herself.

At first, she'd thought that the room was empty of all other creatures but herself; the silence ringing the room almost eerie in its unusualness. Of course, she wasn't alone. In dreams like this, Sarah's unconscious mind always conjured up Jareth's image to fill the void and nothingness.

There was something _different_ about this particular dream, however. And Sarah was quick to identify it. As he sat, reclining in that curved throne of his, dressed simply in a white, loose poet shirt and those all-too-tight trousers, something was out of place.

And it was the paper in his hands. Sarah blinked at the Goblin King for a moment, as if trying to understand why her subconscious had Jareth reading through those ridiculous reports that her psychiatrists wrote to keep tabs on her mental faculties.

She almost couldn't hold back her frown as that wicked smirk turned his lips upward. A small chuckle escaped him as he flicked over to the next page of the report. _I guess me imagining him reading it was bound to happen someday..._

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't laugh at my bad luck and stupidity," Sarah said, unimpressed that even her imaginary-Jareth was laughing at her mistakes.

"This report really is quite ridiculous Sarah," Jareth said, waving a hand so that the papers vanished into thin air.

She shook her head and replied, "Don't you think that I know that? I'm _not_ crazy."

A dazzlingly devilish smile took hold of the Goblin King's features as he answered, "_I_ certainly don't believe that you are."

Sarah blinked.

"That'll be a grand total of you and I that have come to that conclusion then," she answered almost bitterly.

Jareth paused, almost as if he was using the time to study Sarah. The gesture might once have made her feel uncomfortable, but since she'd spent the last year under near-constant observation, Sarah just stared plainly back at the Goblin King.

"I wonder, Sarah..." he almost mumbled to himself.

"What?" she asked.

Jareth frowned slightly at her blunt tone, but the expression quickly faded as he chose to ignore it.

"Being in the Underground for a period of time leaves its mark on a person.

It appears that your mark just happened to mean that you weren't as cautious and secretive as you should have been when remembering... things. You also consumed fae food, something that most know not to do. Fae food changes things entirely."

Sarah literally had to stop her mouth from falling open as she stared at the Goblin King.

"So you're telling me that I was bound to end up in the mental asylum?" she asked incredulously.

"It was always a possibility," Jareth replied, something hidden in his mismatched eyes as he spoke.

"_Thanks_. That's nice to know," Sarah replied sarcastically.

"So what do you want now anyway? I take it that you're not just here for the laughs?"

Jareth smirked as he answered, "The question is, what do _you_ want, Sarah?"

She blinked.

"_What?_"

"Really Sarah, your lack of manners is quite shocking," Jareth replied, slightly irritated.

"I've been locked in the loony bin on drugs I didn't- and _don't_- need for a year, so please _do_ forgive me," she bit back sarcastically.

Jareth rolled his eyes at her and asked simply, "Do you want to stay here?"

"Stay?" Sarah asked uncomprehendingly.

Jareth nodded once, the fact that he was constantly having to repeat himself starting to annoy him.

"I... _Why_?" Sarah said, dumbfounded.

"You are a part of the Underground just as much as it's a part of you, Sarah. You belong here; as your reaction to returning Aboveground has proved."

She gave no reply. She couldn't say anything. Too many emotions and thoughts were whirring through her mind for her to be able to speak.

"Or I can send you back to the, how did you say it, 'loony bin'?" Jareth continued.

"So I can stay here? _Here_? In the Underground?" Sarah answered after a while.

His tone exasperated, Jareth said, "Yes, Sarah, that's what I'm offering you."

Sarah took a deep breath. Jareth was telling her that she could stay in the Underground- that she was _meant_ to stay in the Underground. And she _didn't_ have to go back. _There _has _to be a catch_, Sarah found herself thinking, not daring to hope that there would be nothing. With a deal with the Goblin King, there was _always_ aprice to pay in return.

"And... and what am I to do once I'm here?" she enquired tentatively.

"Are you accepting?" Jareth asked, something akin to hope in his voice.

"Perhaps... If you answer my question," Sarah replied, remembering to be cautious before agreeing to anything.

A smirk took hold of Jareth's features as he watched the woman in front of him. Even now, after spending so long in the institution humans had built to house and care for those that they classed as mentally unstable, she remained the girl he'd observed running his Labyrinth.

Sarah was most certainly _not_ insane, if she had been then she wouldn't have belonged in the Underground- with him. And she definitely would not have thought to have queried him on such a thing.

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Jareth finally replied, "What you would do here is yet to be determined. But I can assure you that it will be better than living life in a mental institution."

Sarah stared at him, her green eyes wide and unblinking. He was really offering her everything that she could want. Her friends. Her sanity. Her life. Her _freedom_.

"You're probably right about that," Sarah nodded.

"Yes, I would like to stay here."

"Truly?" Jareth asked, leaning forward slightly in his throne.

"You're offering me everything that I could want; if I said no then I'd actually _belong_ in that place," Sarah answered as a bitter smile played on her lips.

"Ah, but you said no once before, don't you remember?"

Sarah paused. The Goblin King _had_ offered her her dreams before, and she had turned him down. But last time, Toby had been at stake. Now, Sarah had nothing left to hold her to her life Aboveground.

"That was different..." Sarah reasoned.

"I had to rescue Toby-"

"_Rescue_?" Jareth interrupted, one eyebrow raised.

Sarah blushed and tried to correct what she'd said.

"I- I didn't mean- it's just... not the same, she finished lamely.

"Indeed," Jareth replied curtly.

Something, then, seemed to cross his mind as he sat in his throne before her.

"You do realise that by agreeing to this, you are also agreeing to leave the Aboveground world forever?" he asked.

Sarah paused, but finally nodded.

"You will never be able to see your family again," he cautioned.

"It's not like I see them anyway," Sarah countered, her voice almost sad.

"I might as well be dead to them."

"You know, it's funny that you should mention death," Jareth said, the smirk returning to his features.

"Oh?" Sarah asked, genuine confusion fading across her face.

Jareth did not answer for a moment, almost as if he was considering how best to explain himself.

"Well, you see; if you truly want to remain here, and to accept my offer; you must die."

Sarah froze.

"_What?_" was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

And it was followed closely by, "Are you _insane_?"

"The irony of being asked such a thing by a mental patient," he replied nonchalantly.

"Listen Jareth, I'm_ not_ crazy. Not normal, but _definitely_ not crazy enough to think of killing myself."

The Goblin King's expression turned to a frown as he stared at the woman in front of him.

"You would not _die_, Sarah," Jareth answered, his voice almost stern.

"You would simply take on a new form."

He could see Sarah's mouth open as she tried to object, but Jareth silenced her with a glare and continued.

"You will still have your mind, your memories- your appearance, even. The only difference will be your body. To remain here, you must leave your human form behind, so that when you return here, you may do so to the body of the fae you were obviously meant to be-"

"Fae?" Sarah questioned, too many questions running through her mind.

"If you are to live in the Underground along with the rest of my subjects, I will not have you die and age as humans do."

A flash of something swept through Sarah as what he was saying hit her. _He's going to make sure that I can't die or age?_ she thought blankly.

"B-but why?" she asked, still confused.

"You belong here, Sarah; and, _regardless_ of what you might think about me, I would not see one of my subjects suffer."

_Not _her,_ anyway, _he added to himself.

"So- so you can really... This _isn't_ some sort of trick, is it?" she asked, doubt creasing her brows.

Jareth shook his head. The fact that she questioned his offer annoyed him slightly, but a small part of him was pleased that she would not just willingly and blindly follow his instruction. When she was reborn, however, that would be a different matter.

"I have to die," Sarah murmured quietly to herself.

The look on her face told Jareth that she really was considering it. _So she should_, he thought. _She _needs _to be here. She _belongs _here_.

Yet, _however_ Sarah tried to imagine it, she could not fathom a way to do it. Suicide was a serious matter, and she'd never before considered it- even_ with_ living in that ridiculous mental hospital.

_How_ was the question that hung on the edge of her lips. She was watched all day and all night. Someone came to check on her every fifteen minutes, just to make sure that she _hadn't_ killed herself. And she knew that the time estimate was correct, because she'd once spent an entire _coincidental_ thirteen hours straight, counting the intervals of the orderlies' appearances.

So it would have to be quick. And she had nothing sharp at her side; that sort of thing was kept _well away_ from her. The only thing she could think was to strangle herself with one of her shirts or something of the sort. _How cliché_, Sarah thought sadly.

And there _was_, of course, the possibility looming over her that Jareth actually wasn't telling the truth at all and that this was some sort of revenge for her beating his Labyrinth. But Sarah dismissed that thought quickly.

Since the idea of her killing herself had been broached, Sarah realised that even if she _didn't_ get back to the Underground, and even if she did _really_ die, at least she wouldn't have to live the pointless existence that she had been living over the past year.

"How?" Sarah asked finally.

Jareth's mismatched eyes flashed with an inhuman emotion that Sarah could not quite recognise as his hand rose in front of him. The crystal that appeared in his hand was not what made Sarah gasp; it was the way that one fluid flick of his wrist had the crystal transform as it landed on one finger tip.

Sarah stepped forward to take the newly-formed peach from him, aware of what this meant- aware that this could all be some sort of trick. She looked over it and saw something she had not expected. Exactly where his finger had been, there was one tiny, heart-shaped bruise on the peach's skin.

"Until next time Sarah."

"Wait, when-?"

"-As soon as you take a bite of that peach, you may return... Soon, Sarah," Jareth urged, before he disappeared.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hope you like it and I hope you'll let me know what you think. :)<strong>

**Kit xx**


	3. Dead

As it turned out, it wasn't Jareth that had disappeared, but Sarah. She had woken back into the bland and familiar room that she was so used to by now. But this time, she was more than disappointed. She was devastated. Jareth was nowhere to be found. The Underground was nowhere to be found.

But worst of all, the _peach_ was nowhere to be found. _Because it doesn't exist,_ Sarah told herself._ It was just as dream_, she thought, depressed. Dreams of the Underground taunted her constantly. It wasn't unusual. The fact that _Jareth_ was in her dream and actually gave her some measure of hope, however, _was_ unusual.

Sarah felt ill. She felt like she had finally found an escape route and just before she could use it, the door had been slammed closed in front of her. _Stupid medication_, she thought, blaming the dream that had almost given her some semblance of hope on the drugs that she was forced to take.

_Just a dream_, she told herself as she shifted in her uncomfortable bed. _And that's fucking heartbreaking_. Sarah wanted to cry; really cry. But she couldn't. She was just so used to disappointment and sadness by now that all of her tears had long since been shed.

Sarah scrunched her eyes shut and tried, unsuccessfully to sink back into her dream. A soft wail slipped from her lips; the sound screeching the tears that she could not otherwise conjure. For once, there were no words for how she felt except for these; dead inside.

* * *

><p>The sudden bout of depression in Sarah had been quickly noted and meant that her next day's itinerary included a trip to meet Laurie, her assigned councillor. When she was actually informed of the change in her daily routine, it made Sarah feel even worse- if that was possible.<p>

She tried to show no reaction to the news, but she wasn't sure how successful her attempt had been. _Not Laurie_, Sarah cringed inwardly. Ongoing issues with her councillor had proven that, with Laurie, Sarah could only keep her mouth shut for so long.

And with how she had been feeling since her last dream; Sarah wasn't quite sure how well that she could manage her emotions and her thoughts in front of Laurie. Oh, how Sarah had always _hated_ that woman.

That afternoon Sarah found herself sat as she usually did in Laurie's office; with her knees pulled up to her chest and a blank stare on her face. Laurie had positioned herself in front of Sarah so that she could observe every movement that her unwilling patient made. It took Laurie quite a bit of effort to actually get Sarah to say anything- and it was all because of the question she'd asked.

"So Sarah, is there anything you'd like to tell me? These sessions _are_ here for you to talk things out after all."

Sarah wanted to hold her tongue, like she had wanted to so many times before; but she couldn't stop her words from blurting out. _There it is again_, she thought. _Word_ _vomit_.

"I was in the Underground again," Sarah said, incapable of stopping herself.

She caught herself from letting any more information involuntarily slip from her lips, as she glimpsed the knowing look in Laurie's expression that said _'Uh-oh, _crazy's_ back."_

In an attempt to cover for herself, Sarah added, "In a dream, I mean... I had a _dream_ that I was in the Underground..."

"Oh really?" Laurie questioned, raising an eyebrow as she tapped her pen in a dull rhythm against the clipboard in her hand.

"And what did you do in this dream, Sarah?"

Letting out a soft sigh, Sarah knew what was coming. The words seemed to be forming before she could even think to stop them.

"I met the Goblin King in his throne room," she answered, also unable to stop the tiniest smile that crept to her lips at the thought of the meeting that she'd so hoped was real.

Laurie bobbed her head in that calm, thoughtful way that Sarah had always found so irritating. But Sarah merely stared at the constantly tapping pen as the older woman drummed it against her clipboard, willing herself not to say any more.

"And what happened then?" Laurie asked, her voice suddenly deceivingly sweet.

"He told me he thinks your reports are as ridiculous as I do," Sarah bit back quickly.

"Now, now, Sarah, what have we discussed?"

"Yeah, yeah; I _know_. It's not '_real'_. But I was telling you what I _dreamt_, just like you asked me to."

Laurie's pen froze in its incessant tapping as she stared at Sarah for a moment, meeting the defiant gaze her patient shot at her. Her lips pursed tightly as she resisted the urge to respond to Sarah. She was well aware that she would get no more civil conversation from Sarah that day; particularly as her latest dream had seemed to have provoked her so.

"I think that that's enough for today, don't you, Sarah?"

Sarah blinked. In the time she'd been in the asylum, she had had no idea how easy it would be to get Laurie to end an appointment. Sarah had tried being silent, she'd tried affirming her sanity. Nothing worked.

Apparently, all she _did_ have to do was talk- and reveal the crazy in her too, of course. _What do you know_, she thought dryly, knowing that there _had_ to be some reason for Laurie ending the meeting so quickly. Hopefully it wasn't that she'd just confirmed her 'craziness' even more fully. _Then again, what would it matter if I did? I'm still stuck here either way._

* * *

><p>Days past; and Sarah's life, her asylum world, continued as it normally would. She slept. She ate. She tried her best to avoid speaking- even to Laurie. <em>Especially<em> to Laurie. Nothing was different to the way it had been before, and that only convinced Sarah further that her last little visit to the Underground had been nothing but a dream.

Her heart fell at the thought that Jareth's offer to rescue her- to give her her dreams- was only a figment of her imagination. And her stomach sank when she realised that the orderlies were increasing her medication. _Like I _need_ more drugs... I'm already loopy enough to delude myself into thinking that Jareth would rescue me..._

Sarah shook her head as she swallowed the pills that the plump orderly handed her and let herself slip into a nauseating reality that she wished was only a daydream.

Time flew by that way and Sarah barely noticed as her hours and days flowed into one. Until one lunch, when the effects of her last cocktail of unnecessary drugs had just about worn off and before she had her dose renewed, something strange caught her eye.

As usual, Sarah took a peach as part of her lunch; in fact, it was the only part of her lunch now that she would actually _eat_- the other items littering her tray were only put there on the insistence of the orderlies. When she moved to sit, Sarah overheard the two women behind the counter speaking about her fondness for peaches and she mentally cursed them. _I'm crazy- _supposedly-_ not _deaf.

Taking a seat, Sarah placed her tray on the table. She discarded all other food stuffs on it- which included a yoghurt and plastic spoon, a cheese sandwich and a lonely banana- and went straight for the peach. She knew that it was all she would eat, as did the orderlies, but it didn't matter. Sarah didn't care about being predictable.

She took a seat, away from the other patients who were dealing with their own mental issues that were far more real than the ones that she supposedly had. Sarah flashed a blank look at the orderlies who were watching everyone and sighed. But as she raised the peach to her lips, she froze.

_Surely not_.

Blinking, Sarah lifted the peach up higher so that she could be absolutely certain of what she was seeing. And, after doing that, there was no denying it. Right before her eyes, was the bruise that she'd seen in her dream. The heart-shaped bruise.

Dumbfounded, Sarah didn't move for a moment. That was before she realised how peculiar she must look to those keeping tabs on her, just staring at a peach like a- well, a _lunatic_.

_This _can't_ just be a coincidence... Can it?_ Sarah asked herself, wondering what she should do next. Hope rose in her quicker than she could hope to quell it, and Sarah almost didn't dare to follow a rational train of thought that told her that wasn't real; that it was just a coincidence. _Or is that just what they want me to think?_

Mentally shrugging, Sarah realised that her choice was already made. _Anything's got to be better than this place, hasn't it? Even if it was just a dream, why not fantasise a little longer. What's a little bit more hope, just for the tiniest little moment?_

With a deep breath, Sarah lifted the peach to her lips and, thinking, _Come back to me, Jareth. Save me. Take me away from this awful place_, bit into the soft, fuzzy skin.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait for the update; I've been doing loads of Uni work- blah, blah, more excuses. Anyway, hi, if you're still with me; and I hope you like this chapter! :)<strong>

**Kit xx**


	4. Alive

Sarah woke up with the taste of bile rising in her throat. Her eyes flashed open, but before she could even take in her surroundings, Sarah knew what was coming. All she could do was quickly lean over the side of the bed she lay in before vomiting. Into a bucket.

Wiping her mouth slightly with the back of her hand, Sarah blinked. _A bucket? _The last thing Sarah remembered was sitting down for lunch and... _Biting that peach._ As suddenly as the memory had hit her, Sarah's green eyes flashed upward to the figure holding the bucket.

"Oh," Sarah whispered, catching the sideways grin on the Goblin King's face.

"You're not an orderly..." Sarah mumbled in shocked confusion.

"No," Jareth smirked back.

"And... you just saw me throw up into a bucket... Nice," Sarah said, realising what had happened.

Jareth rolled his eyes at Sarah for a moment and withdrew the bucket. Waving his hand slightly, the distinctly out of place, purple plastic bucket disappeared. Sarah blinked, watching as Jareth straightened and took a step back from her.

He said nothing, but merely stood there as if waiting for Sarah to speak first. But Sarah had no words to articulate how utterly confused she was in that moment. Her brows arched into a frown as she tore her eyes away from an all together too-pleased-looking Goblin King to the room she now found herself in.

The room was not huge- not that it was small in any way. It was... _comfortably_ proportioned in Sarah's opinion. The walls were carved of a stone that looked as if it should almost be smooth to the touch; yet, to Sarah, the most distinguishing thing about them was that they looked _warm_- a striking contrast to the white, coldness that she had gotten so used to.

Very little actually occupied the room, aside from Jareth and herself, but what did was beautiful. Made of the same dark, and lusciously varnished wood, was a tall wardrobe and a vanity table; both of which had swirling and ornate patterns carved into them.

The only other object in the room was the bed she lay in. And what a bed! She had not quite realised how much she had missed a _comfortable_ bed. _It's like a cloud_, she thought absentmindedly as she leaned closer into the feather-soft bed. As she did, a cough that was intended to catch her attention drew Sarah from her thoughts.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Memorising another dream," Sarah answered with what she thought was honesty.

For a moment, a flicker of anger passed over Jareth's face; but the expression was gone in the instant before he replied.

"This is not a dream, Sarah."

Large, green eyes blinked up at him almost uncomprehendingly.

"What?" she said blankly.

"You are not dreaming. This is as real as it always has been."

Sarah's eyebrow rose at the comment as she shot him a doubtful look, to which Jareth returned only with a small smirk.

"Perhaps I should have phrased that in a better way-"

"Considering I'm banged up in a mental ward for believing in an imaginary Underground, I'd have to agree."

"But you're free now," Jareth observed pointedly.

"Only in my dreams..."

"Sarah, you ate the peach in your world; and now you belong in mine," Jareth said, a hint of annoyance ebbing into his tone.

Why it was taking her so long to believe him, he could only put down to the transition she was going through combined with the multiple doses of drugs the humans had put her on. Jareth had, of course, omitted mentioning that Sarah had belonged in his world for a very long time. _This is not the time to share such information with her_, Jareth thought seriously.

Sarah paused, a frown creeping creases into her features. More memories swarmed her mind quickly then as if the veil they had been hidden behind had suddenly been lifted. It didn't take long for Sarah's frown to turn into a hopeful expression of awe as she looked to the Goblin King.

"I'm really here...? _Really?_" she asked.

Jareth answered her with a small nod, reaffirming what he had already confirmed. Reiterating it for her sake. Suddenly Sarah sat up in the bed, quickly looking down at her hands, Sarah noticed a difference immediately. Aside from the fact that her skin was several shades paler than she assumed was _humanly_ possible, her fingernails- which had been filed down as far as they could have been- had now grown out perfectly-shaped and polished.

Blinking, as though she could not quite understand what had happened, Sarah pushed her legs out from under the silky bed sheet that covered her body and slowly stood, only then noticing that she wore a knee-length satin shift that was neither too revealing or too sheer.

Another memory hit her as she stared at obvious and obviously magical changes made to her body. Jareth had told her that this would happen; he had explained it, for the most part.

_"You would simply take on a new form. You will still have your mind, your memories- your appearance, even. The only difference will be your body. To remain here, you must leave your human form behind, so that when you return here, you may do so to the body of the fae you were obviously meant to be."_

"So... how is this possible?" Sarah questioned, looking up from her body, her fingernails still mesmerising her.

It had been a _long_ time since she'd had nice nails.

"Magic, Sarah," was Jareth's simple reply, along with that amused smirk of his.

"_Oooookay_, well that sounds to me like a convenient way out of a giant real-life plot hole," Sarah frowned.

"Well, if you'd like for me to explain the complex inner workings of how it is indeed possible for your transition into this body from your other, then I'd be happy to," Jareth answered, raising an eyebrow.

Her frown deepening in response to his answer, Sarah replied, "Er, I'm okay... Not really sure I could take that much information in right now."

"Perhaps another time then..."

Sarah nodded before tentatively asking, "Does this mean I'm, you know.. _dead_, then?"

Jareth scowled. He had been hoping that she wouldn't ask that question, but he had always known that she would.

"Not quite," he answered.

Sarah's expression fluidly mimicked his.

"But you _are_ gone in their world."

"How?

Jareth sighed. How he loathed explaining himself; even to Sarah.

"You're in a comatose state in their world."

Sarah blinked at him, confused.

"They put your condition down to the extra drugs that they decided to give you following your last meeting with your councillor."

Sarah was silent for a moment before letting a single word slip from her lips.

"Bitch."

Jareth raised an eyebrow at her, half out of curiosity, half in reprimand. Sarah would soon learn that swearing was not an acceptable part of her vocabulary.

"I always knew Laurie hated me," she answered as way of explanation.

"Not at all; she was just a misguided human who thought that you were mad," Jareth reasoned.

"Am I not? I was almost _certain_ for a second there," Sarah joked dryly.

Taking a step closer to her and closing the gap that he had before created, Jareth bent his head down so that his eyes were just before Sarah's. The Goblin King brushed his hand across her cheek slowly, the sentiment as soft as the gesture.

"Never, Sarah. _Never_," Jareth said, his voice quiet.

She almost shivered at the light contact of his hand on her cheek; of any contact, in fact. She had been so long without any friendly touch that it didn't matter that Jareth and she had had their differences in the past. Sarah just wanted to keep the warmth of his touch against her.

And as he tried to withdraw his hand, Sarah found that she couldn't stop herself from pushing herself into the Goblin King's unsuspecting arms. As she wrapped herself around him in an impromptu embrace, Jareth found himself momentarily stunned. He would have said something, not that he minded Sarah's willingness to hold him; but Sarah spoke first.

"Sorry... Just, it's... It's been a long time since anyone's been this kind to me..."

His expression softening, Jareth ran a hand down her hair, gently stroking the long, dark locks that her new body had made eternally silky-smooth.

"And isn't it funny that such kindness comes from your once adversary?" Jareth murmured with a smirk.

Sarah's head lifted from where she'd buried it in his chest and her eyes flickered up to his.

"So you don't... You're not angry anymore that I...?" she started, not wanting to have to finish that sentence.

Jareth saved her from having to do such a thing, however, by interrupting with, "Things have changed since then."

"No kidding," she smiled wryly.

"Hopefully, we won't end up on opposing sides of anything this time," she added in jest.

"Never again," Jareth began.

"Because this time you are my _subject_," Jareth said, mentioning something that Sarah had totally forgotten about.

It almost sounded sinister when he said it like that; as if the word meant so much more than she could possibly comprehend.

"It's... pleasant to have you back in the Underground," he continued before Sarah could even query him.

Sarah was given no time to dwell on either of the statements because she found herself shortly gasping in pain. As it hit her, she crumpled over herself, swiftly dropping her arms from Jareth to clutch at the invisible pulls tearing at her chest. She slipped back onto the bed but didn't even notice; the sudden ache was too great. The Goblin King's expression quickly became a grimace as he realised what was happening. Sarah, however, did not.

"What's... going on?" she asked, between pained breaths.

"You're only half here right now," Jareth admitted reluctantly.

"_What_?"

"You're only here as a sort of phantom... You'll drift between both worlds quickly. The pain is a side effect that I hoped you would not feel," he explained.

"Will I wake up there?" she asked after a while.

"No; you're gone there... And you won't be returning there for long either. Your stepmother will take you off life support in less than a week... their time."

Struggling briefly to keep her thoughts coherent, Sarah paused and then asked, "How do you... know?"

"It's a guess based on how she's reacted to you in the past."

"Touché," she answered with a smile that ended up looking more like a contorted frown than what she had been aiming for.

The pain seemed to grow worse too quickly; the invisible chain linking her to her human body ripping at her insides until it became too much.

"I'll be here when you wake," was all that Sarah heard Jareth say before her eyes closed to the Underground once more.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hi guys, soooo I was going to leave you with a cliffhanger for a while, but it was eating me up inside- already- so you get another update much quicker than I presume you were expecting. :)<strong>

**Anyway, I'm far more pleased with this chapter than the last, for some reason that one just didn't sit right... :/ I like this one though. :)**

**I also like 80s tunes... I was having a bit of a jam to them as I wrote this chapter. :P Not that you needed, or cared, to know that snippet of information. :P**

**Kit xx**


	5. Limbo

When Jareth had said that she was only half truly in the Underground, he hadn't been lying. Sarah barely understood what was happening over the course of the next few days. To her, though, it felt _so_ much longer than a few days.

The pain of drifting between the two worlds that she was tied to was excruciating- like being pulled in two separate directions, by two unstoppable forces. If she could have screamed, then Sarah would have. In fact, she might have been- she just wasn't aware of it.

It took who knows how long, before Sarah was able to see past the pain, so to speak, in order to hear what she should not. She wasn't quite sure how she was doing it, but Sarah realised that, though unable to move, see or speak; she was able to _listen._

At first, she only caught snippets of conversation, along with the beeping, bustling and even sometimes quiet of the bed she lay in in the mortal world.

"How d'you think it happened?" a man's voice asked.

"Dunno. Must have been one of them medical conditions that don't show up for ages and then, BAM!" another voice replied.

The first man sighed; or at least she thought it was the first man anyway.

"Just goes to show, doesn't it? You never know who's just gunna pass out and go into a coma."

"True enough," the second voice commented, sadly.

"Could'a been one of us."

That was all she heard over the first couple of times that she realised she'd been able to listen. But, over time, Sarah learnt to focus for longer, so that she could actually hear what was being said for longer amounts of time. It was a pleasant reprieve from the pain she otherwise felt. But it was still strange.

In the end, Sarah put her ability to listen to the world around her down to a side effect of Jareth's magic. She didn't care though. As it much as it hurt to be stretched between two worlds and to hear those in the mortal world speak about her so indifferently; Sarah knew that it would be over soon.

* * *

><p>So Sarah just bided her time and tried to focus on anything that wasn't agony. And soon a familiar voice interrupted her nonsensical drifting, and it was just as shrill and uncaring as it always had been.<p>

"So... so she's just... out of it, then?"

"Pretty much; we've still not been picking up any brain activity. We can't see any sign that anything's... going on in there..." Laurie's voice replied.

"I don't understand," Karen continued.

"It means that while Sarah's still alive, in her coma, she's not exactly _there_ anymore."

_How wrong she is_, Sarah thought; that act alone defying the words that Laurie fed to her parents.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah's father questioned.

"Well..." Laurie started, but for some reason she paused.

Sarah wondered why. It wasn't like Laurie ever usually had problems dealing with this sort of thing.

"Though her body is still... _functioning_- and I might add that that is only due to the machines keeping her that way- the tests we've run have shown that..."

Laurie paused again, and even unable to see what was happening in the room around her as she was, Sarah recognised the dull tapping of a pen on a clipboard that stretched over an awkward silence.

"May I speak bluntly?" Laurie asked after a while.

Sarah presumed that either her father or Karen had nodded, otherwise then Laurie just continued anyway.

"The genetic anomaly that caused her comatose state has shut down some of her bodily functions, and the initial episode that she had deprived her brain of oxygen for too long; which means that Sarah's suffered from very heavy brain damage. It's likely that, even were she to come out of this coma, Sarah would be... _severely_ disabled and would need care for the rest of her life. In fact, I do have to inform you that it is incredibly _unlikely_ that Sarah will actually ever come out of this."

For a long while, no one answered Laurie. Sarah would have thought that she'd ended up drifting away again were it not for the absence of the otherwise constant pain. Eventually, she heard someone let out a long, deep breath; her father, she guessed.

"Right... So what are you suggesting we do?" Sarah's father asked.

"I- well, _the_ _Institution_ and I are suggesting that you consider... taking Sarah off life support."

The constant tapping of Laurie's pen set up a metronome in the silence that followed her answer. Sarah waited intently for the reply. _This could be it_, Sarah thought. _They could do it. Now. This could end. I won't be in pain anymore._

And though she desperately wanted her father and Karen to go through with what Laurie suggested- not just to end the pain, but so that she could return to the Underground for good- a tiny part of her wanted them to object. To say no. If only to prove that they still cared for her. Just a little bit.

"You want... you want- you want me to kill me daughter-?"

"Now Mr. Williams it is _hardly_ fair to call it that. Your daughter is already gone, it's merely her body that's still, if only barely, alive," Laurie replied, her tone as appeasing as she could make it.

"But still, you're asking me to consent to this?" he continued.

"Listen, Robert... I think that maybe we should consider this," Karen's voice interceded.

_Of course; Karen _would_ step in a suggest that_, Sarah thought, unsurprised and hopeful. At least her father had cared enough to sound shocked and unwilling. At least, at first. It wouldn't be long now before Karen convinced her father to let go of her though, and Sarah knew it. She'd already convinced him to have Sarah committed, how long could it take for Karen to persuade him to let go of her now?

"What?" her father asked, seemingly dumbfounded.

"Think about it; Sarah's been _examined_- she's _gone_. And it's not like she had much of a life anyway; she's been in here- no disrespect meant," Karen added, clearly to Laurie.

"Maybe it's just best if we let go. Maybe it's time."

Another long, pen-tapping silence stretched as Sarah waited with baited breath, or she would if she could have, for her father's answer.

"Let go...?" her father asked, sadness in his tone.

"I think perhaps that you should go home and have a think about this," Laurie prompted.

"It's a tough decision for you."

"That'd probably be best," Karen answered.

And with her hopes frozen, that was all that Sarah heard before the pain engulfed her once more.

* * *

><p>The Goblin King stood at her side, watching as Sarah's unconscious form writhed in the bed he'd had her lie in. A frown creased his brow as if it had been permanently etched there, while he tried to ignore the fact that strangled cries kept screeching their way from between Sarah's lips.<p>

For days, Sarah had been slipping away and returning, but always she remained unconscious. And for days, there had only been brief moments in which Sarah had not been screaming. Jareth didn't understand why that was, but somehow, he felt like those moments were all the worse. Like the silence was more painful.

Jareth stood there helplessly, his eyes fixated on the inert body of the woman that he'd put in such pain. He was so focussed, in actuality, that he did not hear the footsteps clicking their way closer to the two of them.

The woman stopped at Jareth's side, her knee-length, heavily-netted skirts swishing as she did. Her rust-coloured hair draped over her left shoulder, curls ringing each other until they reached her hips. The deep grey corset she wore, clung to her body; the bones that lined it digging harshly into the woman's skin, however, she showed no sign of discomfort.

The woman's skin was the colour of sand, as if it was never quite the same each time one looked at her. But it was beautiful all the same. Beneath full, dark lashes, she blinked coal black eyes at the squirming body that had captured the Goblin King's attention.

"Jareth?" she said, her voice like honey, and yet somehow also rough.

Unnervingly so. But Jareth didn't seem to notice; he was used to her voice- and her other oddities as no other was. She blankly stared at Sarah, with no expression on her face.

"Hm?" he replied, not taking his eyes away from Sarah.

"So this is her? The one that triumphed?"

The Goblin King nodded, slightly unsure of how the woman beside him could barely recognise Sarah after how their last meeting had resulted. He was curious as to how she would be reacting to seeing Sarah once again, but, as he was about to look at her, Sarah let out another piercing wail. His jaw clenched as his frown deepened; yet still, he could do nothing.

"She's changed," the woman observed, one of her thin eyebrows rising at the thought.

Before he could respond, Sarah's cries quickly grew louder and more pained. Jareth's hands balled into fists as he found himself still as powerless as he had since Sarah had lapsed into unconsciousness. Gritting his teeth, Jareth turned to the woman at his side, who's expression still remained clear and seemingly uncaring.

"You're sure this is the right thing?" he asked, anger in the fringes of his voice.

"It is," the woman replied, her black eyes flickering to his.

"It had better be over soon," Jareth muttered after a moment.

All the woman did was nod, before turning on her heel and walking to the room's one door. Pausing with her thin fingers drumming lightly on the dark wood, her eyes rolled shortly over the room before settling on Sarah.

Still expressionless the woman at last said, "If she can suffer through this, then she will be ready for the next test."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I got really excited over an idea I had last night and wrote this chapter in a day (along with doing Uni work like the responsible adult I am- lol JK about the responsible adult bit, but I really did do work...). Anyways, I hope you guys like it! :) And I hope you'll let me know what you think and if you have any ideas who this mysterious woman might be. ;)<strong>

**Happy Holidays guys, and a Happy New Year! ('cus I probably won't update before next year... Anyway, hopefully I get better at updating more quickly- actually, that can be my New Year's resolution... Enough rambling, I have to go to work... :P)**

**Kit xx**


	6. Questions

The first thing that Sarah noticed was that the pain had stopped; but, unlike in her brief moments of listening to the mortal world, there was nothing tugging at her anymore. Nothing still trying to wrench her silently in another direction. Her eyes snapped open and Sarah found herself staring at warmth- or the distinctly warm-coloured room in which Jareth had placed her.

It took her a moment to reacquaint herself with the brightness of the real world; the world that was now real to her regardless of what Karen, the psychiatrists and 'the Institution' had tried to say. She didn't even realise, until she'd pushed herself into a sitting position, that she was not alone.

"Is that it?" she asked, turning to face the Goblin King.

Jareth was seemingly still standing in the place he had been in when she had lapsed into unconsciousness, only he now wore a different set of clothes. That was the only way that Sarah could tell that he hadn't been there the whole time. The tired look that she caught in his expression, before it became one of relief, proved that he had indeed been there for some time however.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"And I won't- and it won't happen again, will it?" she queried, some note of seriousness in her voice.

The Goblin King shook his head, glad that his answer was so. He wanted to deal with that again just about as much as she did. Pain went both ways, after all. Jareth watched as a smile spread over Sarah's face at the news, her fae-brightened, green eyes almost glistening as they grinned at him.

"I could almost kiss you for that!" Sarah blurted out in her happiness, before she could catch herself.

"I- I just haven't felt so good in a long time... I almost feel like a different person," she stutteringly explained.

"That's because _technically_ you are," Jareth replied, smirking at her.

She blinked, his words startling her into remembering what she was.

"So I'm a fae then? Like you?"

"Yes, _you_ are fae; but whoever said I was?" Jareth confirmed, posing the question as almost an afterthought.

Sarah stared at him for a moment, her expression morphing into something confused.

The sight of it made Jareth's smirk turn to a mere smile as he elaborated, "Fae can be killed by bullets; _iron_. I am something... _Other_."

_Like that explains everything_, she thought, trying not to roll her eyes. But Sarah also made a quick mental note to remember that fae- that _she_- could be killed by iron. That would be a useful piece information, she was sure. _No more roller coasters for me then_, she thought, though she hadn't been on anything of the sort for years.

"So... what can kill you then?" she asked inquisitively, picking on the thing that was nagging at her.

But at her words, Jareth raised his eyebrows at her.

"Oh- I didn't _mean_- I just meant- I was just curious, is all," she stammered when she realised how her question had sounded.

"I'd hardly be Goblin King for long if I admitted that so easily, now would I, Sarah?" he answered, a smirk replacing the look he was giving her.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. She'd gotten so used to digging holes for herself that she guessed it would take a while for her return to normal- or what was normal for her before she returned from the Underground. She'd have to be able to stop putting her foot in it one of these days, right?

A silence followed in which Sarah had time to re-establish what she knew about her stay in the Underground.

And eventually, such thinking led her to ask, "So did you decide what I'm supposed to be doing here in the end?"

The Goblin King frowned. Sarah was meant to stay in the Underground- it was why she'd had the reaction she did. But the particulars of her stay had not yet been discovered.

"That's still in the process of being determined-" he started, before clicking footsteps interrupted him.

Jareth knew immediately who it was, but Sarah looked on curiously, eager to know who this mysterious guest was. Wondering if she might know them. But when the figure stepped through the door, Sarah realised that she had _never_ seen this woman before.

She wore a dress of purple satin, that Sarah thought could barely be classed as a dress as it barely covered her. It cinched at her waist with an unusual large and dark, twisted sort of chain. Where the slightly netted bottom of her dress finished, a thin pair of purple and black stockings began.

Sarah didn't know what she'd been expecting in the visitor, but she certainly hadn't been expecting someone who wore clothes like these. Not with how everyone else in the Underground- _that she'd seen_- dressed.

The woman's rust-red curls free, they entwined themselves in loose ringlets as they dangled to her hips. And her skin... Sarah had never seen it's like.

She was far too beautiful to be human; but her beauty wasn't the only give away of her inhumanity. There was a sort of unnaturalness about her that was almost unnerving. And, as her coal-black eyes settled on Sarah, Sarah couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable.

"_Oh_; she's awake. That's... something," the woman said, her voice rough and yet smooth, dripping sensuality.

Sarah blinked, unsure of what to make of the strange woman.

"Do you feel ill? Unwell in any way?" she asked Sarah, not taking her sharp eyes from her.

Sarah frowned a little before shaking her head. _Is this woman some sort of Doctor? _she wondered, the thought leading her to further question that if that were true, then what a strange doctor this woman would be. But the thing that made Sarah cautious was the strange expression that Jareth wore.

"Well that's very much something then," the woman said.

Turning to Jareth, she added, "You let me know when she's ready."

With that, the strange woman disappeared out of the door that she entered through. Sarah was more than a little confused by what had just happened.

When Jareth said nothing, Sarah asked, "Who is she?"

Jareth smirked a little at her question and replied, "You've already met once before."

"I have?"

He nodded but refused to elaborate; bringing a scowl to Sarah's face.

"What did she mean, _when I'm ready_?"

"As it happens, we had been discussing your position in the Underground. Such a thing is not merely in my control to establish, you see. She has as much say in that as I do."

Though the thought made her a little unsure and uneasy, Sarah asked, "So... so is she like your queen or something?"

At that, he laughed. A long and throaty laugh that was somehow warm and not in the slightest mocking; but pleasant to hear.

"No; certainly not. But she is very important."

"Oh..." Sarah started.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I could do with knowing who she is before... before I'm _ready_," she finished, unable to come up with any other end to her sentence.

Jareth's brows rose. She was questioning his decision to withhold such information and he was far from fond of it.

"_Sarah_. Remember this; now that you are here, and truly so, I am your _King_. Questioning me is not an acceptable idea," he replied, his tone almost ominous in nature.

She stared at him, uncertain where this Jareth had just appeared from. _Then again, he _is_ a King; he can act however he wanted_, she joked to herself, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes at the thought.

"Do you understand?"

She nodded, though she wasn't quite sure of the degree in which he expected her to hold her tongue. He _had_ to know how bad she was at that.

"Good. Now; figuring out who she is, is something that you must do alone. I can only give you a few hints."

"Why?" Sarah asked, blinking.

Though her questions were starting to grain on him, Jareth understood their necessity, and answered, "It's a sort of... a test, if you will."

"Oh..." was all that Sarah could say in reply.

"You will have a number of them before your allotted place in the Underground can be determined," he continued vaguely.

Sarah blinked.

"I will?"

The Goblin King nodded, but again, said nothing further on the matter.

"_Great_," Sarah muttered sarcastically.

"That really depends on how you do," he answered.

She stared at him openly, momentarily startled by his comment.

"_Wait_, so if I do badly, what happens then?" she enquired, a number of awful thoughts running through her mind.

"Actually, nothing much. The better question would have been what happens if you do _well_," Jareth replied.

He'd said it in a thoughtful way that somehow made Sarah pause. It somehow unnerved her with its wistfulness.

"So what happens if I do well then?" she said, asking the question that he'd told her to.

"Nothing unpleasant," was Jareth's only reply.

"_Right_... Erm, _okay_, I'll pretend like that explains everything..." Sarah said under her breath, thinking that he could not hear her.

But the Goblin King _did_ hear her; and that made him frown at her. Sarah's little mumblings and mutterings were starting to annoy him; though he reminded himself to bypass them for now, however. She knew _nothing_ of her place or the rules that she now had to follow. But she would learn. Now was just not the time for it.

"I think it's about time that I left you to bathe and dress... properly," Jareth said, thinking of what the time _did_ call for.

"The bathroom is the first door outside of yours. I'd advise you only to go there; other places will not welcome you."

_Yet_, he added mentally. Jareth nodded before vanishing through the door that the woman had used, leaving Sarah to do what he had told her to do. Pinching his nose, Jareth cursed the laws that prevented him from revealing what was coming to his own fae- to Sarah. Such things were so impractical.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Arghhh; I've just been writing a Literature assignment about feminism and sexual difference in 'The Little Drummer Girl' and I just needed to get out of my head- so I came to write a Labyrinth fic; makes sense since Labyrinth has no dominating male figures and subservient female ones- oh, wait... :P But seriously; I feel like I've written the words 'domination' and 'weakness' a few too many times today... ¬¬ My mind is a tad frazzled right now from my over-opinionatedness... But apparently that's a good thing; because I just had tonnes of ideas for this story... Maybe I should do work more often... :L<strong>

**Anywayyyy, ramble over, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have something of an opinion on the chapter or story, I'd love to hear it. :)**

**But, for now, it's 2.45am, and I'm going to bed. :)**

**Kit xx**


	7. Changed

Sarah sat on that overly-comfortable bed and stared after the Goblin King._ So... so I'm just supposed to go and have a bath while I've got these test things looming over me?_ she thought, worriedly. _That's just _fantastic._ The least he could have done was tell me _something_ about them. Stupid Goblin King..._

Frowning, Sarah stood. Of course, she hadn't realised that the days she'd spent lying bedridden would have made her miss her body's movement so much, and when she tried to put her weight on her feet she staggered somewhat. Just catching herself, Sarah's frowned deepened and she told herself to be more careful.

She walked slowly, following the path that Jareth and her mysterious visitor had exited using. On the other side of that dark-wood door, Sarah found herself standing in a corridor that seemed to stretch out further than she could see and yet stop before she could think of how it would ever be possible to reach the end of it.

As she leaned against the frame of her door, it took Sarah some time to figure out that the corridor was not as long as she'd initially thought. In fact, it wasn't that long at all. It was a type of illusion that had fooled her at first glance. Sarah smiled to herself for once. Just_ like this place; it never did make sense._

From where she stood, she could see only a few doors other than the one that Jareth had mentioned to her. Her curiosity begged her to look behind the other doors, just so that she could know what was there. But something in the way that Jareth had spoken to her made her not want to test how welcome she'd find herself.

Her decision made, Sarah ignored her nagging curiosity and stepped through the door that Jareth had said contained a bathroom. Before Sarah could look around though she found herself mesmerised by what lay in front of her. There was a wall entirely covered by a mirror, like something one would find in a ballet studio. And the thing that had Sarah so mesmerised, was her own appearance.

As she stood in the centre of the room, she couldn't tear her eyes away from herself. Essentially, she was _still_ herself; but there was something different. When she'd seen herself in the Institution, she'd looked so... _colourless_. It was almost as if, being in that bland place bereft of colour, had, in turn, stolen the colour- the _life_- from her. Everything then had been _grey_.

Looking at herself now though was a very different matter. Everything about her appearance screamed of life and vivacity. Of _colour_. Her hair was that much shinier, her skin was that much healthier and her eyes were that much brighter. Even the slight pink tinge on her cheeks seemed to add to the glow she now gave off. Sarah couldn't help but grin at the sight of the familiar fae stranger's body that she now wore as her own.

When she could finally take her eyes away from the stark difference this new body had given her, Sarah looked around the room. It was a simple room, containing only the basics of a bathroom; a toilet, a sink, a bath and a towel rail with two towels hanging off it. But like the other room she'd been in, this one was just as beautifully furnished.

Sarah couldn't determine what material that everything was made from; but whatever it was, it had a certain glint to it that made it that much more than stunning. She ran her fingers over the cold, marble-like surface of the bath and only then noticed that it had already been run. And by the rising steam, she guessed that it had been run recently; for _her_.

She stepped back from the waiting water and stripped off the nightgown she'd been wearing since... Well, she didn't really want to think about how long she'd been wearing it. Now naked, her thoughts were swiftly distracted by the sight of something she was surprised she hadn't become aware of before.

Sarah blinked as she stared down at herself, noticing one difference to her body that she hadn't quite expected. Except for the hair on her head, that of her eyebrows and eyelashes, there wasn't a hair on her body. _Nowhere_. She ran a hand over her arm, before moving to gently stroke her fingertips down the length of her legs. The sensation was so strange. Everything felt so... _smooth_.

Grooming hadn't been the highest on her priority list in the Institution. In fact, Sarah had quite gotten used to the soft fuzz of hair that had grown on her legs and other such places since she'd been committed.

They'd never have let her even think about shaving as she used to in the Institution. If they'd not even allowed her a _pen_, then something with blades was certainly out of the question. But now that there was nothing there, she almost felt more naked than she had been- even without any clothes on- for a long time.

Shaking herself out of the fixation she'd found herself in, Sarah eased herself into the still-steaming bath. She groaned as the warm water soothed her skin and caressed the contours of her newly-found body. The oils in the water gave off some sort of sweet smell that kissed at her skin, leaving a tiny scent of apple where it touched her.

* * *

><p>Sarah didn't know how long she'd been in that bath because the temperature had not changed, even by a degree. She knew that she'd been some time though, because she'd been able to wash her hair, which now sat somewhat-drying over one shoulder.<p>

A cough from the doorway made her look around, away from the pleasant, soothing sensation of the bath. Sarah's eyes quickly found that of the Goblin King's as he stood in front of the door that she only now realised that she did not close.

"Sorry, I didn't realise that I'd been so long," Sarah muttered, realising that he must have come back expecting her to be already dressed.

Immediately, Sarah stood and stepped out of the bath. Her body dripped with water that still tried desperately to cling to her and failed as it rolled off her skin. Slowly, she reached for one of the light-coloured towels that hung from the towel rail and wrapped it around herself. But, when she'd secured it to herself, Sarah paused.

"What the...? Why did I just do that? I'd _never_ have done that before; _no_ _way_," she said, confused.

Sarah knew she'd been looked at, even naked, in the Institution- but even in a state of dissociation, she had never been comfortable with it. What she had just done though, for a moment she hadn't even thought about it. It had almost come naturally even though it was something that Sarah felt was deeply unnatural to her.

"Your inhibitions, for the most part, are gone here, Sarah," Jareth said, answering her queries.

"What do you mean?" she asked blinking.

"You said I'd still be me; _exactly_ the same-"

"I may have taken away a few of the human things in you to make you more at ease in this world," Jareth replied, tilting his head to the side as he looked at her.

"You did _what_ now?"

He raised an eyebrow at her outburst. At the look, all Sarah could do was frown and look away from him. She reminded herself to once more watch what she let slip out of her mouth.

"No one here has the extent of inhibitions that you had from being brought up Aboveground," Jareth explained.

As a look of shock and realisation crossed her face, Sarah said, "Let me guess, you took away my hair too?"

Smirking slightly, Jareth replied, "It seemed an unnecessary bother for you to have to deal with."

"What if I liked it? What if I _liked_ my hair?" Sarah enquired, frowning at the Goblin King.

Jareth raised a brow at her.

"_Well_... I'm just saying," she mumbled, not really meaning her last comment.

"You should really ask before you start changing my body."

He rolled his eyes at her and dismissed her words though she once again spoke out of turn. Once again, went against rules of behaviour that she was yet to learn.

"Come, you should dress," was all he said as he turned and walked from the room.

Still frowning, Sarah trailed after him. She found him waiting just inside the doorway of the room she'd woken up in and stopped beside him. With a barely audible and slightly impatient sigh, Jareth gestured toward the wardrobe on the other side of the room.

Moving over to it, Sarah pulled open the doors of the tall wardrobe and peered inside. Blinking, she stared inside the wardrobe that seemed to be so much bigger than it had from the outside.

"It's like Narnia in here!" Sarah exclaimed, looking out at Jareth in disbelief.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sarah; Narnia doesn't exist. It's merely a figment of a mortal's imagination."

"Oh yes, because it's _such_ a stretch to imagine Narnia when one's in the Underground," she answered, turning back into the wardrobe.

She didn't see Jareth's reaction to her comment because she was already staring back into the wardrobe. She suddenly found herself wishing that she hadn't washed her hair so that she wouldn't get whatever she ended up wearing wet.

There was so much to choose from that Sarah didn't know where to start. There were dresses, shirts, trousers; clothes that she would have worn Aboveground and clothes that seemed to match the style of the Goblin King. There were colourful things, dark things; everything she could even think to imagine. Sarah would swear that she even caught a glimpse of the poet's shirt and jeans she'd worn whilst running the Labyrinth.

"Not that I'm not grateful, or anything; but is it really so necessary to give me all these clothes?" she asked, her head still buried amongst the clothes in the Tardis-like wardrobe.

"Yes," Jareth answered quietly.

If she had been looking his way, then Sarah might have noticed the flash in the Goblin King's mismatched eyes. A glint that he could not have stopped appearing had he wished it. How binding rules irritated him.

As she rummaged amongst the clothes, Sarah ran a hand through her hair to push it out of her face. But as she did, she froze, her fingertips finding only dry, and admittedly very silky, hair.

Looking out of the cupboard and gesturing to her hair, Sarah asked, "Did you-?"

The Goblin King smirked and shook his head.

"Then what-?"

"I would have thought you of all people might have understood that my castle is quite susceptible to wishing by now, Sarah."

"I- I _wished_ it," she said slowly, remembering that she had in fact wanted her hair to be dry so as not to wet anything she should choose to wear.

"But I didn't say it," she frowned.

"You don't have to. You and the magic here have been linked since your first wish. I suggest that you're careful with what wish for; sometimes you can be taken a little more literally than you would like."

Nodding slowly, Sarah went back to looking at the clothes and trying to decide what to wear. Though, as she did, Sarah realised something; not once had Jareth's eyes strayed to where they shouldn't. Not even when she had been naked. That was something that she found interesting, though she didn't know why.

As her thoughts turned to what Jareth was wearing, Sarah found herself wondering if she should wear something like that. But, then again, she quickly recalled what her visitor had been wearing. The two styles were miles apart.

Eventually though, Sarah decided to change into knee-length black leggings, a long red shirt that reached her mid-thigh, sleeves to her elbows and a pair of flat, black dolly shoes. When she stepped out of the wardrobe, the only reaction she was given was another raised brow from the Goblin King.

"_Hey_, don't judge me, I've been locked away for so long, and fashion _wasn't_ exactly on my list of things to think about."

Jareth stared at the now-fae woman in front of him. Even in such clothes as those she'd picked, she looked beautiful. Still, Jareth reminded himself to find someone to dress Sarah, starting tomorrow. Now that she didn't _have_ to choose for herself.

"You know, I haven't been so dressed up in a _long_ time..." Sarah said, in awe.

_And she thinks that this is dressed up? Poor mistaken little falsely-accused mental patient_, he thought, reminding himself to teach her what 'dressing up' really looked like.

"Indeed, now if you're ready, follow me," he replied.

And with that ominous choice of words, Sarah followed Jareth out of her room.

"I wish that you'd tell me what's going on," she muttered after him.

"Very funny, Sarah. Perhaps you'll find that the Labyrinth will reveal all to you soon enough. Or perhaps even magic can't circumvent this silence," he answered, not even looking back at her.

Frowning at the back of Jareth's head, Sarah just continued to walk after the Goblin King.

"Worth a try," she grumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey guys; I'm really enjoying writing this story, so I hope you're liking it. Also, I'd really appreciate you guys letting me know what you're thinking about the story so far; just cause. :)<strong>

**Oh, and I promise, some things **_**will**_** be revealed in the next chapter. Not everything, but some things. :)**

**Right, now I'm off to pull an all-nighter with my friend Emma because we're idiots and left our bundle of assignments 'til the last minute.**

**Kit xx**


	8. Pathways

Sarah followed Jareth back into the long-but-not-truly-long corridor. As she walked behind him, she found herself curious as to which of the doors that the Goblin King would lead her through. They passed the still-open door of the bathroom she'd used and continued passed two other, identical doorways on the other side of the corridor.

Until Jareth came to a halt before the next door, startling Sarah slightly with the abrupt nature of the movement- or sudden lack of it, that was. With a serious look at the door before them, Jareth let out a long breath that was more a huff than a sigh.

What it was that had done it, Sarah could only guess; but the solid door flew open as if of its own accord. The Goblin King seemed utterly unfazed by the door opening itself. _Then again, he _wouldn't_,_ she thought. _This_ is_ the Underground_.

Noticing as Sarah paused, Jareth turned his head in her direction, smoothly offering her his gloved, right hand. Sarah stared at the hand for a second as if it was an alien thing. The gesture seemed so... gentlemanly? Kind? _Civilised,_ the voice in the back of her mind corrected her. Eventually, she placed her hand in Jareth's upturned palm and felt his fingers curl around her hand.

As the Goblin King started forward again, Sarah this time felt herself pulled along beside him, and, for a moment, she struggled to keep pace with him. She caught onto his step quickly though as they walked into another hallway. Sarah blinked as she looked around the peculiar walkway. The walls, the floor and even the ceiling were almost _tiled_ with doors of all shapes and designs.

"Do they open?" she enquired.

"Yes," Jareth answered.

"And if the castle doesn't recognise you, then they will do so with some force."

"_Recognise_ you? It can do that?" Sarah queried.

The Goblin King nodded, not pausing as he led her through the Corridor of Entryways. He frowned as he remembered the name; it was not particularly inventive, but it _was_ a goblin who'd thought of the name, so Jareth thought that they were quite lucky with the name that had stuck.

It was better than most of the ideas that came from his goblins- especially better than the time that they had decided to see if planting eggs would make them grow and a few weeks later were greeted with the stench of their failure- and the bog that they were so swiftly dumped into.

"Does it recognise _me_?" Sarah asked, tearing Jareth away from his thoughts.

"Not as well as it will," he replied shortly.

"That's why I took the precaution of taking your hand. My castle will not question its King."

"Oh, right," Sarah answered, her grip tightening somewhat on Jareth's hand as they stepped over another door.

It wasn't long then until Jareth stopped once more, and those serious, mismatched eyes turned to face Sarah at the exact moment that the two of them fell through the floor. With a scream, Sarah caught hold of the first thing she could- and that just so happened to be a very amused Goblin King. Their fall was fast, commentated by Sarah's high-pitched scream and Jareth's laugh until they softly landed, feet first, on a stone-bricked floor.

Not peeking out from where she'd buried her head into the creases of Jareth's shirt, Sarah's voice was a little muffled by his chest as she said, "I thought you said it wouldn't drop us."

"It was meant to," Jareth replied, smirking as Sarah pulled away from him and released his body from the desperate grip she'd been holding him in.

"Oh... Right... Sorry," she apologised slowly.

Still holding Sarah's hand, Jareth led Sarah through the small corridor that they had landed in.

"How many rooms are there in this place?" Sarah asked quickly.

"Too many to count," was the Goblin King's vague reply.

"I thought that you might have known," Sarah reasoned, shrugging.

"The castle is part of the Labyrinth; and the Labyrinth changes on her own... More rooms can be added at any time... No, the rooms- or _these_ rooms anyway- are not _my_ concern. So, unless _you_ feel like counting them for me-"

"I'm alright thanks," Sarah interrupted, sensing that she probably shouldn't ask so many questions .

"I'm not _that_ eager to know the answer."

With a satisfied smirk, Jareth shook his head. As if to confirm Jareth's words, right before them the corridor started to change and the floor started to rise up, swirling itself into a spiralling, stone staircase. If Sarah had blinked then she would have missed the sudden change in the room; and as it was, she had watched the staircase grow from nothing. Jareth led her up the newly-formed staircase and Sarah could only frown.

"Surely falling and then going up again is a little pointless," she said.

"It might be if we had only fallen _down_," Jareth replied simply.

"What d'you mean?"

He sighed a little, but didn't stop walking.

"The Labyrinth changes on her own. Her travellers go where _she_ wants them to; and where _I_ want them to."

"Surely that's physically impossible," she commented.

"You say that as if your Aboveground physics have ever played a part in the Underground," he replied with a smirk.

Thinking about it, Sarah realised how ridiculous what she'd just said had been.

"Touché... Stupid thing to say really, wasn't it?" she murmured to herself.

The Goblin King said nothing in reply to that. Suddenly though, the stairs that they were climbing stopped before them and Jareth scowled at the wall in front of them that should have held a door.

"Shouldn't there be a-" Sarah started, before a flick of Jareth's free wrist and a conjured crystal interrupted her.

The Goblin King let the crystal float through the air until it popped like a bubble against the wall. From the remains of the crystal bubble's magic, a door grew to cover the bare wall. Jareth soon stepped through it, gently tugging Sarah along after him.

Rather than a corridor, Sarah this time found that Jareth had led her to a room- their destination she guessed, if the room's sole occupant was any clue. The visitor she'd had in her room, the mysterious fae woman that Jareth refused to reveal the name of, stood at the centre of the room. Her coal black eyes set on Sarah, she placed her hands on her hips and waited.

Taking note of the pause, Sarah used the moment to survey the room that Jareth had brought her to. It was completely circular and the floor was patterned with consecutively small circles that ran like the rings of a tree's trunk. There was nothing of furniture or the like in the room; just the three people standing there.

But it wasn't the marble-like floor or the smooth-looking walls that had Sarah transfixed; it was the ceiling. The room was somehow light, even though there were no windows or artificial sources. Sarah had a feeling that the light stemmed from the strange-looking ceiling that she was staring so ardently at.

It glistened and shifted like the sea reflecting sunlight, yet it was as thick and dark as oil. Sarah could only assume that it was magic holding the substance up, and magic that was giving it light.

"What _is_ that?" she asked, eventually breaking the silence that gripped the room.

"Too complicated to explain in the short amount of time that we have," the Goblin King answered.

"Another time, perhaps," the fae woman suggested vaguely.

Jareth inclined his head at her and Sarah quickly got the feeling that a decision had been made without her, and she was getting _nothing_ explained. _Again_.

"Sarah," Jareth said, his voice drawing her eyes back to him.

"Stand in front of her."

Giving him a quizzical look, Sarah did as she was told, though she couldn't help but wonder at the fact he'd said '_her' _rather than the fae woman's name. _They must _really_ want me to guess..._ she thought blankly.

Black eyes looked closely over Sarah as she stopped before the female. She watched as they travelled the length of her body, the woman tilting her head momentarily as she did so.

"Interesting choice of clothing," she commented.

Frowning slightly, Sarah replied, "Like I said to Jareth, keeping up with what's on the runways wasn't on the top of my list in the Institution."

The fae smiled slightly as she answered, "I dare say not."

There was a small pause- and Sarah used it to her advantage.

"So, I take it you're not going to tell me your name either then?"

"Correct. Though figuring out my name shouldn't be too hard for you; it's just something that _I _would like to see if you can determine."

"A test, like Jareth said, then?" Sarah asked.

"Yes; but not one of the greatest importance; there are others that come first," she replied.

"For now though, call me Elle. It's not my name, but it's something," she added with a tiny smirk.

"Elle," Sarah repeated, sounding the name out.

The fae woman nodded once.

"Now; on to the reason that you are here-"

_She's actually going to explain something?_ Sarah thought, blinking in surprise. She'd been kept in the dark so much already that she was beginning to think that no one would ever explain anything to her.

"When each fae is born, they are given a title. They grow up knowing their title, their attitudes being tailored carefully so that they might fulfil their duties properly. When you were born- or as you would say _reborn_- you were not given a title. Your life in the mortal world has tailored your thinking in... _unpredictable_ ways. Therefore, to receive your title, as you must, there will be tests."

Sarah stared at Elle. _Tests. Just like Jareth said. Great._

"Oh..." she said, slightly dumbfounded.

"Um... Okay; so... what is it that I've got to do?"

"That depends solely on you. You'll be presented with many situations; how you react to them will determine how you are to be judged."

_Judged? This is more serious than you thought, Sarah_, she told to herself.

"Right..."

With a frown creasing her features, Sarah could only think to nod firmly and look back at the fae woman before her. To which Elle smiled properly for the first time in return. Sarah couldn't help but think what a beautiful smile it was; and yet what a deadly smile it could appear to be. It seemed to Sarah that there was a thin line between beauty and danger with this fae.

"Are you ready?" Elle asked finally.

"No," Sarah admitted honestly.

"Guess I'm gunna have to start sometime though..."

Elle raised her eyebrows, but that gorgeous smile still remained on her face.

"Indeed."

Pausing for a moment, she added, "Follow me."

Sarah watched as she walked away, toward a door that was, just a moment ago, non-existent. With that though, the Goblin King appeared at Sarah's side and placed a hand on her back, urging her after Elle. She walked forward, yet shot a small glare his way.

"And you couldn't have told me _anything_ about this?" she muttered to Jareth.

"It was not my place to tell you, but hers. You know now anyway so it really makes no difference," he reasoned.

Grumbling to herself, Sarah wondered where it was that they were going _this_ time and what it was that she would face in these tests still to come.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will let me know what you think! :) (It's late- or early- and I have Uni in the morning, so for once I shan't bore you guys with a long and rambling note... Starting NOW. :P)<strong>

**Kit xx **


	9. Objects

The room they entered was bare, and much plainer than the last. Walls of brickwork built a square around them that felt, to Sarah, quite enclosing after the last room they were in. Indeed, the only thing inside the room was a wooden table, a number of objects placed in a line upon it.

Under her breath, Sarah commented, "There seem to be an awful lot of rooms in here that have only one thing in; surely it'd be better to move everything into one of them and do something else with the empty ones? Isn't it a bit of a waste of space?"

Elle rolled her eyes, a gesture unseen by Sarah or the Goblin King.

"Space works differently here, Sarah. _Nothing_ is a waste, so do not take things for granted," Jareth replied quickly.

Elle cleared her throat, and both the Goblin King and Sarah looked her way only to find her standing behind the table in the centre of the room. Taking it as their cue to join her at the table, Jareth led Sarah forward, before moving around to the side of the table Elle was standing at.

"Put them in order of importance; first, obviously, as the most important," Elle said.

Sarah looked down at the objects that she'd barely even glanced at before. Given a cursory look, they appeared to be just a number of ordinary objects; but that couldn't be the case, could it? Putting them in order of importance for everyday use would be easy... But Sarah remembered not to take anything for granted, Jareth had just reminded her of that after all. _Perhaps they don't want what _I_ think is important; just what _is_ important..._ she thought.

"I may just be over-thinking this, but when you say 'order of importance', _who's _order of importance do you mean?" Sarah questioned.

Elle smiled, her eyes glinting slightly as the grin reached them.

"Clever. It will do you well."

Her smile faded however, as she added, "Put them in order."

Just before Sarah turned back to the objects, she asked, "Um, before I do, what am I putting them in order for?"

Elle smiled again and her eyes now flickered to Jareth, who answered, "You're going to run the Labyrinth again, Sarah."

Sarah blinked twice before replying, "S-sorry, I'm _what_ now?"

"That is your test, Sarah, your final test," Jareth continued.

She was stunned. Why would she run the Labyrinth again? What could that possibly achieve? A small part of her was also wondering what would happen if she didn't make it though- surely expectations would be high after she'd managed to conquer it once before...

Still a little stunned at the thought of running the Labyrinth again, Sarah asked, "So... so what about the objects then?"

"Choose first; we will explain after," Elle interrupted, before Jareth could speak.

"Right," Sarah muttered under her breath.

_Guess I'll just go with my gut then..._ Sarah thought, a frown coming to her features. She looked back down to the objects in question, their meaning something totally different than she'd initially thought. _They must have something to do with my running the Labyrinth again... It only makes sense..._

There was a small necklace with a thin chain of gold and five coins made of a metal that Sarah had never seen before; she guessed that that must be the currency of the Underground, though for some reason she had never pictured Goblins using money. But Sarah also guessed that she would probably have to use both the necklace and the coins in some sort of trade, so they might probably be invaluable.

She saw two theatre masks, comedy and tragedy, yet she could only guess as to what function they might have in helping her run the Labyrinth again. Next to that was a rope which was clearly not intended for her to use to climb over walls; Sarah was pretty sure that cheating wasn't a good thing to try in the Labyrinth. But she did remember how useful the rope Hoggle had used to pull her out of the forest and away from the Fireys that were determined to have her head was; so she couldn't dismiss that.

The next object was a very familiar-looking little red book, that's cursive, silver writing read '_The Labyrinth'_. As important as that book could have seemed, Sarah had memorised it years ago; what could that particular copy contain that hers hadn't? _Besides_, she reasoned, _I don't need to remember the words anymore, I gave him his power when I came here..._

Beside that, Sarah's eyes settled on a perfectly un-bruised peach and she couldn't help but frown. Picking it up and rotating it slowly with her fingers, Sarah looked up to Jareth.

"How am I supposed to trust this peach, when, of the last two you gave me, one of them drugged me and the other killed me?" she asked cautiously.

Expressionless as he replied, Jareth said, "The peach is no more than a peach; but, if you are uncertain about believing me, then by all means, why not put it at the bottom of your list?"

"Hm," Sarah replied, still frowning as she set the peach back into its previous place.

The last object on the table for Sarah to turn her attention to was a small statue, carved out of what appeared to be a strange type of marble. It was a statue of a barn owl- one that distinctly reminded her of when she'd first met Jareth and the transformation he had made. _Perhaps... perhaps _he's_ the barn owl?_ Sarah thought, still wondering at the implications of that theory.

After a while more of pondering her decisions, and how potentially valuable they could be if she picked correctly, Sarah looked up at the Goblin King and his mysterious friend, her expression set.

"You've made your choice?" Elle asked, her coal eyes expectant.

Sarah nodded.

"I have."

"Then position them in order."

Sarah did as she was told and picked up her first object; the small statue of the barn owl. Jareth's eyebrow rose as she placed it in front of them and it seemed that he could barely repress his smirk. Sarah didn't miss it as she proceeded to place the rest of the objects before them. _That's definitely him, then,_ she thought, pleased with herself for guessing as such.

Next were the coins, the rope, the masks, the necklace, the book and, finally, the peach. Sarah looked up at the two, hoping to see their reactions to her choices. She had no such luck though, and received only two masked gazes in return for her efforts.

"Okay, so now what?" she asked, trying to hide her disappointment at seeing nothing of what they thought of her decisions.

"Simply? Nothing," Elle answered bluntly.

Sarah's brows creased together as she said, "What? So, was there any point at all in what I just did?"

"Yes," was all that Elle replied with.

Sarah was about to say something, but Jareth interrupted her.

"As a citizen of the Labyrinth, you are entitled to these objects to aid you in your next test."

"Right, next test, running the Labyrinth, I get it. So... when?" Sarah asked, a little frustrated.

"When _we_ decide," Elle replied.

"Did you never learn to hold your tongue, Sarah?" Jareth enquired flatly.

"No; I didn't. If I had then I wouldn't have been locked up in the Institution for my not-so-crazy-after-all ravings, now would I?" Sarah retorted hotly.

A cough from Elle distracted her from Jareth and the feeling of almost anger growing in her.  
>"I might just remind you, Sarah, that Jareth is now <em>your<em> King as well as mine. Despite what you may have thought or said in the past, he _does_ have power over you; and you ought to show respect," Elle said matter-of-factly.

Sarah just stared at her almost uncomprehendingly. Had she just been _scolded?_ Like a child?

"Apologise," Elle said, or more like _ordered_.

Sarah blinked and looked between Elle and Jareth. Both of their expressions were totally serious. A moment of silence past before Sarah finally spoke, her expression betraying the fact that she didn't think she should be saying what she was about to.

"Sorry," she said, her voice no more than a whisper.

Sarah knew that she was being childish, with the way she spoke and folded her arms too. But perhaps she was like a child to them; she didn't know how old they were, after all. Added onto that was that she was new to the Underground- or, at least, to obeying its rules and laws.

"Very mature, Sarah," Jareth said dryly.

"Now, if you would mind acting any less the stubborn little girl that you used to be, we shall move on."

After shooting him a less than impressed look, she nodded. Jareth headed for a door that had, once more, newly appeared, and Sarah trailed after him. Elle, Sarah noticed, did not move except to pick up the statue of the barn owl and twirl it slowly between her fingers.

"Safe travels," Elle said, not even bothering to look at them as they disappeared through the door and into an adjoining corridor.

The Goblin King rolled his eyes at her remark; he always found it interesting when she said things like that. There was utterly no point in her wishing them well; it made no difference to him. As the door closed behind them, separating Jareth and Sarah from his strange friend, Sarah piped up.

"Um, Jareth?"

"Hm?"

"She's not, like, your sister or anything, is she?" Sarah ventured.

"No, Sarah. Remember, the two of you have met before; and you've never met any of my family," he replied simply.

"Right..." she said, crossing that idea from her imaginary list of possibilities.

"So what now?"

"Can you not just wait to find out, Sarah? Didn't you ever like surprises?"

"Not since I ran your Labyrinth; some of those surprises weren't exactly friendly."

"Some?" he asked, intrigued.

Catching herself, Sarah almost couldn't hold back a blush.

"Maybe I'll tell you later," she said quickly.

"I think you should tell me now."

"Can you not just wait to find out, Jareth? Didn't you ever like surprises?" she replied, turning his own words back on him.

He frowned at her.

"That is not amusing, Sarah."

Grinning, she replied, "And patience is a virtue, Goblin King."

**Author's Note: I know, I know I'm an awful person for leaving it this long to update... I hope you've carried on reading enough to get to this apology- I am soooooo sorry; Uni work has been mounting up and I've been concentrating on that which unfortunately made me have to push back my fanfiction. Really sorry it's taking me ages to update, but I want to let you know that I will **_**not**_** abandon this fic or any of my others.**

**Kit xx**


	10. Beautiful

Even though Jareth was clearly and visibly irritated by Sarah's pure cheekiness, he said nothing further on the subject. She would tell him later; he had ways to insure it. So, for now, they just continued to walk down the plain, rectangular corridor beside each other.

"So where are we going now?" Sarah asked, quickly changing the subject.

Jareth rolled his eyes and said nothing for a moment. Perhaps he would leave her wondering for a while; this game did work both ways, after all. When she noticed that she wasn't going to get an answer though, Sarah frowned.

"Seriously, Jareth; where are we going?"

"Whatever happened to patience being a virtue?"

"Oh, ha ha, _very_ funny," Sarah replied sarcastically.

The Goblin King smirked as they continued down the long corridor that remained windowless and bare. Nothing was changing here. Nothing was altering as it had been elsewhere in the castle. And Sarah couldn't help but wonder why- so she asked.

"There is no need for the castle to change, it knows where we're going," Jareth replied dismissively, and _just _vaguely enough to irritate Sarah.

"Does _everyone_ know where we're going apart from me?" Sarah asked.

"Yes," was all Jareth replied with.

"_Great_."

She paused and decided to changed her tactics, instead choosing to ask a different question. Maybe if she could distract him then she could get him to answer her later.

Keeping close beside him, Sarah tilted her head to the side and asked, "Um, Jareth; how come you're not holding my hand?"

Jareth sent a sideways glance her way, his eyebrows raising at her question. She stared back at him uncomprehendingly, not registering how her comment could be construed.

"Why Sarah, are you _asking_ me to hold your hand?" Jareth questioned, barely repressing a small smirk.

She blinked twice at him, a sudden realisation washing over her face.

Her cheeks darkened slightly as she frowned and hastily replied, "Whoa, wait no, that's not what I meant-"

"It's nice to see you so insulted by the thought," he replied dryly, the smirk still lingering beneath his features.

Sarah's frown deepened as her blush increased.

"No, that's not what I meant either, I didn't say anything like that-"

"I'd beg to differ," Jareth interjected.

"Oh, just _urgh_. Look Jareth, I'm pretty sure that I can't fit my foot any further inside my mouth-"

"I must beg to differ again, but I think I can let the moment pass," Jareth said, finally allowing his smirk to show.

"How did I know that you'd find a little slip up amusing?" Sarah frowned, shaking her head at him.

Jareth said nothing, so Sarah continued, trying to veer away from her unintentional blunder.

"I _meant_ because you said before... about the Labyrinth not recognising me..."

"I know," Jareth replied.

"Wait, and you just let me go on? Thanks for that, Jareth. No, _really_."

"I _am_ the King, pet; if I don't take advantage in times like this, then it's just not worth it."

Sarah rolled her eyes and answered, "Yeah, well, now you owe me."

He raised an eyebrow at her, his glance becoming suddenly serious as he said, "I think you'll find that bringing you here is enough to cancel some things out."

She frowned and opened her mouth to reply but found herself interrupted.

"And, as a King, I don't tend to get into the habit of owing _anyone_, so I must inform you that you have done nothing to warrant a repayment and therefore I think you will find yourself incorrect."

"What?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Put simply, I do not owe you anything."

"Oh..." she said quietly.

It had happened again and Sarah wasn't quite sure how. She'd felt so comfortable. They were having a normal conversation- perhaps a little embarrassing and misconstrued conversation- but still, a relatively normal one. And then Jareth went and threw in another "I'm the King, don't be disrespectful".

Sarah didn't understand. It was like what Elle had done back in the other room. It was almost exactly the same thing. She didn't understand either of them at all, but she didn't feel like saying anything else on the matter. Prolonging those strange and awkward moments only seemed to prolong the absence of the normal ones.

"You could still just, you know, tell me anyway..." she said, trying to get around their last topic.

The Goblin King rolled his eyes quickly and replied, "You've been to the heart of the Labyrinth; you are known now."

"Oh, well that's good, then... The heart of the Labyrinth... was that the room with the-" she paused and gave a smooth waving gesture as she struggled to find the words she wanted.

"The one with the weird ceiling," she finished lamely.

"The one with the weird ceiling, yes," he smirked.

"Hey, you can't blame me for that. _You_ told me it was too complicated to explain back then; what else was I supposed to call it?"

"True," Jareth answered, tilting his head slightly.

"I guess it would be too much to ask for an explanation now then, right?"

Jareth nodded once. _Typical_, she thought. _He reminds me of something interesting just to _refuse_ to explain about it. Stupid Goblin King._ As they lapsed into silence, Sarah tried to forget about all the unexplained things she had now floating around in her mind by focussing on the corridor in front of her.

"Does this corridor just go on and on?" Sarah asked, marvelling at the length they had already walked and what was still to come.

But, as if on cue, a door appeared at their right and Jareth pulled Sarah to a stop abruptly. The door was... unusual, Sarah thought. It seemed to be made of entwined stone vines that twisted together like a knitted mural. Sarah stared at the complicated vines that weaved a patch into the wall, wondering why this particular door had appeared. Jareth knew, of course, but said nothing.

She couldn't help but reach out and run her fingers over the carved wall, only to flinch back sharply as it started to coil and shift. Jareth didn't bother holding back his laughter as Sarah quickly backed away from the wall, which only succeeded in earning him a scowl from Sarah.

"Just because _you _know all the ins and outs of this place doesn't mean that anyone else does."

"Indeed," Jareth smiled.

"Though I must admit I didn't realise how amusing it would be to watch you here."

"Oh yes, _so_ amusing. I'm just a barrel of laughs," she replied sarcastically.

But Sarah was distracted from dwelling on the Goblin King's amusement when the withering vines seemed to dissolve and part, revealing a bright light beyond. Sarah gasped and stumbled past the new hole in the wall to the dazzling outdoors.

The sun was high over the Labyrinth, casting an orangey light over the landscape painting in front of Sarah and the Goblin King. And it really did look like a painting to Sarah. She'd seen the same grey and boring walls for _so_ long in the Institution, and now... _A garden_, she thought. _I'm outside. _Really _outside_.

Sarah looked around, her eyes flashing quickly from one thing to another, trying to take in everything she was seeing as if she would get no other opportunity. Lush grass sprawled out before her, stretching out to a number of trees of varying sizes and species'. She was no expert on trees, but whatever they were, Sarah couldn't help but think them beautiful.

To her right, Sarah noticed some sort of huge pond, reflecting the Underground's sun. It was beautiful. Surrounded by a rim of a rocky and paved area, it looked so different to the rest of the garden Sarah could see.

And of course there were the flowers. She didn't what they were just like she didn't know what the trees were, but they were gorgeous. They were so colourful, and there was so many. _Beautiful_, she thought.

She had no other word to describe the entire garden. Everything she could see was just... beautiful. It was so different to all that Sarah had known in the Institution. She couldn't believe it was real and, for once, Sarah was speechless.

"Nothing to say, Sarah?" Jareth said, stepping out of the castle behind her.

Sarah didn't turn back to him when she replied, "I... I don't even..."

He just watched as Sarah struggled to come up with an answer. She looked around again, not able to keep her eyes from moving, roving around the garden. It was so different to what she had known for so long. _Outside_. Sarah hadn't been outside in such a length of time that she'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a breeze blow over her, gently tickling and cooling her skin. It was the best sensation she thought she'd ever felt.

"I... It's been so long since I've been outside... It..."

Jareth stared at her intently, only then realising that she had started crying. He didn't understand, but stepped closer to her so that he could better see her expression. When she noticed him at her side, Sarah tried to wipe away her tears, laughing them off with a genuine smile.

"Sorry... It's just nice... I didn't realise how much I missed it."

Jareth tilted his head to the side.

"Sarah?" he said, somewhat uncertainly.

"Thank you... so much..."

The Goblin King said nothing to that, he simply stared, allowing her the moment to collect herself.

"Would you care to walk?" Jareth asked, holding out his arm for her to take.

She took it reasonably quickly, assuming that he needed to keep her close to him because there must be something dangerous out in the garden. Jareth had said that the Labyrinth recognised her, but he'd mentioned nothing about other creatures in the Labyrinth.

They walked together in silence through the garden. It seemed endless to Sarah, with so many turns and twists it was almost Labyrinth-like. The garden wasn't quite the same though; it seemed to be far less confusing and changeable. It didn't seem to be similar enough for her to warrant not questioning it.

"Is this a part of the Labyrinth?" Sarah asked remembering the garden-like part of the Labyrinth where she'd first met Ludo.

Jareth shook his head and answered, "This is my castle's garden; it isn't connected to the rest of the Labyrinth. Things here don't change in the same way... Which is why I have no qualms leaving you here while I have business to take care of."

Sarah blinked and turned to him.

"You're leaving?"

"For a moment only. You can continue to walk the garden all you want however," Jareth said, releasing her hand.

"Wait, so you _don't_ need to hold my hand out here?"

He shook his head.

"So why did you...?"

"It's called being gentlemanly, pet. I know you are unaccustomed to such things since your previous accommodation was so... uncivilised."

"Ah yes, because the only reason I got a nice hand hold in the Institution was when it was time for me to 'calm down, take a seat and have a nice cup of tea'- complete with a medicated cocktail obviously."

Sarah hastily tried to laugh off the memory, running a hand awkwardly through her hair. The Goblin King merely frowned at her in return, and when she caught sight of the expression, she couldn't fathom quite why. He bowed to her and then quickly disappeared with a breeze of glitter before she could even consider his frown properly. Sarah stared as the glitter swept away in the slight wind. _Who knew that he could do that?_

She simply shrugged the moment off though and turned back to the garden she was so entranced by. And she couldn't resist slipping out of her shoes, to feel the grass tickle her feet. Sarah smiled at the feeling. It was good to be free.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey guys, even though I said I wasn't going to update 'til June 1st, I had a bit of inspiration, so we have this chapter. :)<strong>

**I'm going now, I have work in the morning and it's 1.30am right now... I'm going to suffer for this later- just like I did on Tuesday... *shivers***

**Anyway, hope you liked it and will let me know what you think! :)**

**Kit xx**


	11. Swing

Leaving her shoes behind, Sarah started walking further into the garden. She didn't know where she was going but that didn't matter to her. Sarah was just enjoying the feeling of freedom that allowed her to walk where she willed instead of being trapped by four walls and a number of locked doors.

That was until she came across a huge wall of tall bushes that appeared purely impenetrable. She guessed that the Labyrinth was on the other side; and that the bushes were there because it clearly wouldn't do to have a runner stumbling into the Goblin King's garden. She smiled at the thought of a runner inadvertently appearing in Jareth's personal garden. _Wouldn't that go down a treat..._

If she hadn't been in the Underground then she might have been surprised by the things she saw whilst wandering around the garden. Some of the things were so seemingly random that Sarah couldn't help but wonder at their purpose- particularly a windmill, that looked to made of something only slightly stronger than paper, and was covered in Goblin graffiti.

She passed a field of colourful flowers that seemed to shift like waves even though the breeze had died down somewhat. Sarah didn't step into them as she so wanted to though- seeing one of the flowers shoot and out and enclose around a passing butterfly, effectively consuming it, was enough to put her off.

Sarah continued in her aimless wandering around and, after seeing so many bizarre things, she couldn't help but find herself unsurprised as she came across a blue tricycle with yellow plastic handles and peddles. And that led Sarah to wonder if Toby had ever had one of them- if he had then she'd never have known. Her father would never tell her anything like that when she questioned him, so eventually she'd just stopped asking.

Sarah shook her head out of her thoughts; she didn't want to think about her so-called life Aboveground. It helped that she quickly found a distraction in the form of a playground swing. She didn't question its appearance though. This garden was just too peculiar for there to be a reason for anything it.

Taking a seat, she couldn't help but swing. Air began to rush against her face as she sat there, swinging higher and higher. She couldn't help but feel so much younger as childhood memories of weekends in the park rolled over her. She grinned; even laughing out loud at the thought of what she was doing.

This was more fun than she'd had in years. And it felt _right_. She didn't have to hide anything here; she didn't have to pretend that what was real was not for the sake of closed-off imaginations and avoiding additional drugs. She didn't have to lie. And she was free. Perhaps it would be a bit much for her to say that the swing symbolised her freedom, but in that moment, Sarah truly thought it did. _What_ _could be better?_

Eventually she stopped the swing, digging her bare feet into the ground to pause the movement. She let out a sigh as she watched the garden that stretched out before her. She was so happy. There was something so peaceful and pleasant about this place. But just as that thought formed, a sudden appearance startled Sarah into falling backward.

* * *

><p>Jareth appeared in front of Sarah while she was sat on the swing she'd found. And it quickly became obvious that she hadn't been expecting his reappearance as she slipped off her seat, her legs still waving in the air, caught between the metal chain of the swing.<p>

Jareth couldn't help but laugh aloud at the sight. The joy of jumping out and scaring someone, even unintentionally, never did go amiss. _Particularly_ _when that person is Sarah_, he thought. _I'm going to have to try this more often. _She leaned herself up on her elbows in the grass and stared at the Goblin King.

_ "Really_ Jareth?"

Jareth smirked, trying to hold back more laughter as he replied, "You must admit, Sarah, that _was_ funny."

"To _you_," she answered with one raised brow.

"Well, yes. _Naturally_."

Jareth moved around the swing and held out a hand to help her up. Grudgingly she accepted it, disentangling her legs from the chains and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Thanks," she murmured as she released his hand.

A slight smile twisted Jareth's lips and he waved a hand nonchalantly to his right, causing a seat of branches and entwining vines to rise from the ground as if it had been growing there for years. He took a seat beside the swing, still saying nothing. So Sarah just sat back on the swing again, careful to hold onto the chain this time.

"Why do you have a swing?" she asked after a while.

Jareth's lips tightened a little. The swing was a remnant of a time when children played in the gardens of the Goblin King's castle. That was before Jareth's time; two Goblin King's and many thousands of years ago.

The previous Goblin King had had no children, and so Jareth had been appointed to the position. Because of his title, it made sense for his to assume the role. And since he had had no children as of yet, this part of the garden had fallen into disuse. Then again, children _were_ a hard thing to come by in the Underground.

"Children used to play here... A long time ago..." he replied after a long while.

"Oh..." she replied, slightly unnerved by his vague answer.

After that, the two lapsed into silence, and Sarah just stared out blankly into the garden again. The Goblin King looked at her, studying her face. Her brow curved slightly, forming a tiny frown into her already wistful expression, and he wondered what was going through her mind to bring that look to her.

"What are you thinking?"

Sarah blinked out of her thoughts and turned her head so that she might regard the Goblin King.

She paused for a moment, running her tongue over her dry bottom lip, before answering, "I sometimes wonder if Toby thought of this place like I did."

_That's what she's thinking about?_ he thought, pondering on why her thoughts had turned to such an area.

"He dreamt of it when you lived with him. All thoughts of the Underground stopped when you left though," Jareth said.

He watched a mixed expression cross her face, as if she was conflicted over something. It made her sad to think that Toby would have no recollection of the place that barely anyone else knew about. The place that they had shared an experience in. But part of her was almost glad that he didn't remember; at least Toby wouldn't end up in the asylum like she had.

"He no longer remembers anything about the Underground," Jareth finished.

Her frown wrinkled her brow further as she asked, "Why doesn't he?"

Jareth shrugged his shoulders a little, replying, "Most people are like him. They forget the Underground when there is no reminder of it for them. Toby would have forgotten long before if you hadn't been there."

She began to appear wistful again and a far off look clouded her eyes as she stared at Jareth.

"Why did I remember?"

_That_ he was quick to answer, "You were meant to, Sarah. Always."

She blinked, suddenly uncertain.

"You were meant to beat the Labyrinth just as you were meant to return to it."

"Why?"

Jareth shrugged again, giving away nothing that he knew. Sarah wasn't supposed to know that particular snippet of information yet. She wasn't supposed to know that, in the Underground, there was a reason for everything, no matter how strange it might seem. She was supposed to figure that out on her own and given enough time.

"It's where you belong," he answered eventually.

* * *

><p>"So no more tests?" Sarah asked after a long stretch of silence had slipped between them.<p>

"Not for today," he replied, a tiny smirk turning his lips.

A sense of relief washed over Sarah at that news; she didn't like that she knew nothing of those tests before she found them administered on her. Leaning her head against the chain of the swing, she instead found herself staring off into the garden beyond once more. Just staring and thinking. And Jareth couldn't help but watch Sarah again as she looked out.

The two of them remained in their silent observations as the sun began to set, casting an orangey light over them. A cold air washed over the palace gardens, raising goose pimples over Sarah's skin until she could not suppress a shiver. Jareth kept his eyes on her, frowning a little at the slight movement.

"You're cold?" Jareth asked.

"Of course I'm cold; it's just gone bloody freezing out here," she grumbled quietly, shifting her arms around herself in an attempt to hug her body and retain as much warmth as she could.

He raised a brow, but she didn't appear to be phased by it in the slightest. _We will have to fix that eventually_, Jareth thought to himself.

With a frown, Sarah continued, "You see, Jareth, _this_ is one of those times when having hair on your body is beneficial."

He stared at her, unable to reply before she went on to speak again.

"That's what it was _biologically_ there for- keeping a person warm."

"Well, you're a completely different _type_ of person now. You're a fae, Sarah."

Now it was Sarah's turn to stare. Sure, he was right, she _was_ a different type of person; but that didn't stop her from being cold.

"Still need to keep warm though," she muttered, more to herself than to Jareth.

The Goblin King smirked and rolled his eyes as he stood from his magically-constructed seat. Sarah watched him for a moment and hesitated slightly as he held out a hand from her. She took it eventually, and left her perch on the swing, only to have Jareth weave an arm around her shoulder, pulling his cloak around her with his arm.

She looked up at him, surprised, and her mouth formed a distinct 'O' shape. She was so close to Jareth in that instant; she couldn't help but find the human- _well_, whatever _he_ _is_, she thought- contact still a little abnormal. But it was almost nice, feeling him next to her like that. The Goblin King. Her childhood nemesis; her saviour from an asylum world that she didn't belong in.

Sarah stared at him, something in his mismatched eyes holding her gaze to his. His eyes were almost predatory; reflective. They reminded her of when he'd first appeared to her in the form of an owl. And something about the way he smirked at her left her feeling distinctly like prey.

"Better?" he asked, his voice low.

Sarah blinked.

"Uh-huh..." she murmured.

"Who needs hair when you've got the Goblin King's cloak to keep you warm..." she added lightly, her voice slightly louder and more confident.

He rolled his eyes at her. What a strange and fleeting change in her countenance, he thought, wondering at what had been going through her mind as she'd quieted.

"It is time we go back to the castle," he said, dismissing his thoughts for a more suitable time.

With his arm still around her, the Goblin King started leading Sarah back towards the castle.

"Jareth?

He paused and looked down at her again.

"Can I... I was wondering, can I come out here again tomorrow?"

He stared, watching as the emotion lining her expression turned into something akin to hope. Jareth hadn't realised until that moment how much a simple thing like taking her outside would mean to Sarah. It made sense when he considered it though; she had been locked away for so long.

_Hmm_... he thought. _Very interesting._ And, for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to refuse her request. With a simple nod, he acquiesced, and went on leading her back inside to the warmth she sought.


	12. Knowing

When they walked back inside the castle, Jareth dropped his cloak and his arm from around Sarah. She would be warm enough inside. The Labyrinth usually kept the temperature of the castle according to the inhabitants' needs, and he felt the warmth around them as the air heated to accommodate Sarah's chill.

Jareth ignored the way Sarah sighed contentedly as they walked onward; she had clearly enjoyed being outside. He might have left her out there for longer, but he had called for dinner to be served promptly and now was the time for it. Jareth led her toward the small dining room that he usually ate in, and when he opened the door, he noticed her pause.

Sarah entered the room when he shot her a curious look though. As she stepped inside, her eyes travelled around the room. It seemed so simple; too simple for Jareth. Then again, none of the rooms she had been in so far in the Goblin King's castle had been what she'd expected.

This room held a long, wooden dining table, with a chair set up at either end of it. There were two places set with golden plates for dinner, and a matching golden goblet aside them. The room was lit by a roaring fire, as well as a number of candles held in holders that lined the stone walls. In all honesty, they gave off a lot more light than Sarah had thought they would. There was a large, golden-framed mirror on one of the walls, but apart from that, nothing else really caught Sarah's eye.

Jareth ushered her to one of the chairs, and proceeded to seat himself in the other. He knew that Sarah hadn't eaten since being reborn. He knew how hungry she would be, even if she didn't seem to realise it yet. But as soon as the food magically appeared in front of her though, Sarah felt it. She was starving; so much so that she didn't know how she hadn't noticed it.

She was quite quick to eat things- anything. Anything that tasted nice and was _real_. Anything that was part of an actual meal that you would feed a normal person. Anything that wasn't like the processed rubbish that they tried to force her to eat in the Institution. It was such a change. Jareth smirked; he was watching amusedly as she ate quickly.

"It's nice to see that your appetite has improved."

She frowned, confused.

"I seem to remember in your institutionalised days that you ate very little."

Sarah paused. It was true that she had tried to eat as little as possible of whatever they tried to pass off as food.

"If you'd tasted any of that stuff that they _tried_ to call food then I think you'd have done the same," she replied.

The Goblin King inclined his head.

"Well, I'm glad you find the food here satisfactory," he smirked.

But something occurred to Sarah then, as he smirked at her. How did he know that she tended to avoid their food? She thought that he only knew that she was in the Institution for the few days on which he'd actually spoken to her. Something didn't add up.

"How long were you watching me in there, Jareth?" she asked cautiously, placing her knife and fork on her plate.

"Long enough."

"When?" she asked, something more forceful in her tone.

His eyes flickered, a refusal to answer her question. A show of power. Sarah just stared; she wasn't going to be the one to back down. This was extremely important to her. And it seemed that they were at an impasse.

"Why does it matter to you, Sarah?" Jareth asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

She frowned. Why did he have to ask that? What business was it of his?

"It just does."

"You're going to have to give me a better answer than that if you expect a reply."

She scowled for a second, tension easing into her expression. So this was the cost for her answer; tit for tat...

"I just... I guess I just don't... I want to know because..."

For once, she was finding it hard to say what was in her mind.

"Sarah," he warned, trying to stop her mumbling, stuttered sentences.

"I want to know because... I need to know how long that someone actually cared- and how long I had no idea about it."

He stared.

"What?"

She nibbled her bottom lip, as if it made her feel horrible to even consider this.

"In there, I was forgotten- even by my own family and friends. I wanted to know how long you knew and how long you watched me without my knowledge... I need to know."

Jareth continued to stare at her. It seemed to him that she was troubled greatly by this. He supposed she deserved an honest answer, though he knew that it wouldn't sooth her. It would probably only hurt her.

"I knew about it from the beginning."

She glared at him with wide eyes.

"You did?"

He nodded.

"From your first appointment with that psychiatrist that wore thick-rimmed glasses and the overly-large tweed jacket."

She didn't break her glare. She remembered that psychiatrist well; he was the one who had referred her to a specialist after a few appointments. He was the one who had begun her descent into the hell that was the Institution. And if Jareth knew about him, then he really did know everything. _Then why didn't he save me sooner?_

"Why _now_? Why did you wait until now to come and get me? Why did you let me suffer in there?"

His lips formed a thin line. He knew that this would hurt her, but he had reasons for everything that he'd done.

"I had to be sure this path was the best for you; only when I was certain of that did I chose to present you with this option, Sarah," he said carefully.

"It took a year for you to realise?" she asked sadly.

He could hear the hurt in her voice. It was just as painful for him to hear as it was for her to experience it, he was sure- though he didn't quite understand why.

"I had to absent myself from you to be absolutely certain that your obsession with the Underground could not be cured."

_ "Cured_?" she said, outraged.

"You sound like _them_."

He could see the disgust in her expression. The way that she stared at him made him feel as if he had disturbed something more than painful in her. Sarah stood up and made for the door. She tried to leave, but the door wouldn't open for her. The castle wouldn't let her leave. Jareth stood from his chair, placing his linen napkin on the table. He walked over to the door and stopped behind Sarah.

"Sarah," he said quietly.

She didn't look at him; she just carried on trying to pry the door open in some desperate attempt to get out of the room.

"Look at me."

Still, Sarah refused, and Jareth had to take hold of her wrists, wrench them from the door handle and forcibly turn her around to make her look at him. From the look in her eyes, he could see that she really was upset.

"That was not my intention, Sarah. And you are aware that you are free of them _forever_ now, aren't you? Because of what _I_ did."

She bit down hard on her lip and nodded.

"Good."

She _did_ have to remember that. She was free now, and no one could take that away from her. Free, but she did have to play by a totally different set of rules. She had a King here, instead of doctors and nurses. And she couldn't quite get her head around how she was supposed to talk to him.

Every time she thought she could get comfortable talking to him, he turned the tables and said something that put her in a place she wasn't used to being in. She just hoped he didn't do that again; and she hoped he wouldn't temper the freedom he said she was now granted.

But right now, she had to drop the feeling of betrayal she had when she thought about how Jareth had left her in the Institution all that time when he had a way out for her. He had saved her, after all.

* * *

><p>"Are you finished?" Jareth asked, questioning her momentary attempt to storm out.<p>

She felt like a child being rebuked for a tantrum, even though she'd only gotten angry because of Jareth.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

He dropped one of her arms and shifted his hold on the other so that he now only lifted her hand. Sarah found it odd that he had managed to turn his grip from restraint to politeness in a moment.

"Good. Now come," he said.

The door opened for him immediately and she couldn't help but feel irritated. Even the furniture was choosing Jareth over her. Frowning, she just followed him out of the room, led by the hand he still held. They down a number of corridors and walked into a room that was relatively similar in size to the dining room, but was far more well lit. And all of the walls here were covered by wooden shelving that in turn was covered in so many books.

"Wow... You have a lot of books..." Sarah murmured.

Jareth smirked a little.

"Why yes, I do. This is my personal library."

"Oh, it's... wow... I'm really not sure why you having this room surprised me."

He raised a brow, and asked, "You were surprised?"

"Well, a little... I didn't- I just didn't expect it."

"Hm. Well there could be a lot of things around this castle that you don't expect."

Before Sarah could reply, Jareth released her hand and moved over to one of the tall columns of shelving.

"Would you care to read?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, without thinking.

"They wouldn't let me read in the asylum. Too stimulating for the crazy girl, apparently," Sarah tried to explain sadly.

"You may come here whenever you wish, Sarah. I will not stop you."

She looked up at him, the expression in her eyes grateful. She hadn't been so thankful in a long time. Jareth was giving her so much more than he could even know. Even if he had waited so long to give it to her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He said nothing. Sarah walked towards him, her eyes running over the spines of the books. There were many that she didn't recognise, but many that she did. She picked one at random, and it turned out to be an old favourite. Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women.

"You didn't strike me as the type of person that would ever have read Little Women," she said.

He smiled, withdrawing a book of his own from the many on the shelves.

"As I said before, there are a lot of truths about me that you won't expect."

"If you say so."

Jareth sat down in one of comfortable chairs that were dotted around the room and started reading. And Sarah watched him for a moment before he noticed and raised a brow at her, making her look down. She quickly followed suit after that, and took a seat in another of those chairs.

She read for a while, the feeling of a book in her hand and the written word at her fingertips was almost too much. She realised that she was going to have to ease herself back into reading the way that she used to. Apparently, this much stimulation was a little overwhelming.

So after some time, Sarah placed her book in her lap and just sat there, staring into the fire. As she relaxed in the comfortable armchair and watched the flames lick each other in their fiery dance, she realised how tired she was. Overwhelming, indeed.

But Sarah couldn't help but think about how brilliant it was to be back in the Underground, regardless of how long it had taken Jareth to bring her here. Everything was so different here- and mostly in a good way. Even facing those tests didn't bother her so much as long as she got to stay in a place where her freedom was hers.

Jareth had been carefully watching Sarah over his book, of course making sure that she didn't see him watching. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice that he was looking though. He'd seen her drift off eventually with a contented expression lining her features.

Placing his book back on the shelf, he went over to Sarah and lifted her into his arms. Cradling her like one would a child, Jareth took her back to her room. The Labyrinth formed a pathway that allowed him to walk from this room to the corridor that ended in her room, so it didn't take long. He watched as her eyelids fluttered somewhat, threatening wakefulness, when he placed her in her bed.

"Jareth?" she whispered, though her eyes didn't fully open.

"Hush, Sarah."

She was asleep, she didn't need to talk right now. He turned to leave but stopped quickly, surprised. Sarah's hand had shot out to grab his forearm, holding him there. She looked up at him, her eyes still shrouded with sleep.

"Please, don't lock me in. I can't deal with being locked in again," she murmured in sleep haze.

He nodded.

"Never, Sarah."

"Please," she repeated.

There was a desperation in her voice that appealed to him, that made him almost sad to think about, though he wasn't entirely sure why.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to lock you up, Sarah," he assured her softly.

Jareth pushed a thick strand of hair out of her face and looked at her for a moment in the dark. With his reassurance, she had drifted back to sleep quickly, and only then had he left. And even that was somewhat reluctantly done.

_How troubled she is_, he thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry it has been a while since I've updated; finally got the chapter written though. :) Hope you liked it and will let me know what you think! :)<strong>

**Kit xx**


	13. Drugged

**Author's Note: Hey guys, thought I'd let you know that the song the music box is playing in this chapter is David Bowie's 'Bring Me The Disco King' (Lohner Mix). Here's a link (just remove the spaces): www .youtube watch ?v=b2gMMZB0FaU**

**Just in case you feel like listening as you read. :)**

**Kit xx**

* * *

><p>Sarah spent the next morning outside reading a book. Smiling, she'd thought about how wonderful it felt to be out in the open again. But after eating lunch with Jareth, she decided to go back to her room with her book. She stayed there for a while- she left the door open however; that was one of the best things about being away from the Institution- about being free. She could be alone in a room and not feel confined.<p>

After some time, Sarah felt like stretching her legs though, so she walked out into the corridor. She looked around the small hallway in front of her and sighed. She couldn't help but wonder what was inside the other rooms beside hers; and, even though Jareth had warned her against going into them, she thought that it was about time that she investigated.

Trying the doors, she found that all but three of them were locked. The only room she could get into, apart from the bathroom and the door that Jareth had led her through before, was another bedroom. As she stepped inside, Sarah noticed that it was almost identical to hers. Same walls, same bed, there was only one minute exception.

There was a small silver box on a bedside table. In Sarah's opinion, such a thing was intriguing and seemed somewhat out of place. Tilting her head to the side, Sarah knelt down by the silver box and opened it, only then to discover that it was a music box.

It wasn't the typical plinking of keys that sounded though. This was different; as if the music box was more of a record player than the trinkets she'd kept in her bedroom. Sarah had never heard the song before, but it sounded familiar somehow; and it took her a moment to figure out why. _It sounds like Jareth_, she thought.

If she was being honest with herself, Sarah would admit that she was entranced by the music. She didn't quite comprehend what the music was doing to her however, because before she knew it, Sarah was standing up and swaying in a kind of dance. She didn't know why; the music was just...

Sarah couldn't explain it; but why not dance? What was stopping her? She hadn't danced properly since... since she and Jareth had danced in that crystal ballroom. It only made sense to dance now on her return to the Underground, didn't it?

The door opened, though Sarah took no notice of it, and Jareth walked in. Hearing the music and stopping immediately, the Goblin King simply stared as he found Sarah inanely spinning around with her arms outstretched. He had been coming to see her, but on hearing the noise, he had stopped to investigate.

He knew that there should have been no noise coming from this room and it put him on edge to detect it. Jareth recognised the music and knew exactly where it was coming from. A music box that had very peculiar after effects on any mortal that chose to indulge in its song.

It was a simple spell, and had been an experiment for Jareth once upon a time, but it clearly worked. It acted as a drug, but Jareth had never bothered to use it since its effects were so varied. The Goblin King stood still in the doorway and stared at Sarah for a long while before she even noticed him.

"Jareth," she grinned, as she continued to dance.

He frowned.

"Sarah, what in the name of the Underground are you doing?"

"I feel weird," she laughed.

Jareth's frown only deepened at that comment- especially because she seemed giddy despite her words. He walked over to where she was still childishly spinning around.

"Stop for a second," he said.

Sarah paused as he'd instructed, but she giggled to herself as she did. She felt like a child laughing at obeying their older sibling's order. He took hold of her chin between his fingers and stared into her eyes. They were out of focus. He knew that she certainly was not behaving like herself; apparently the spell that he had cast long ago was having a strange effect on Sarah.

After a moment, Sarah frowned and pulled away from Jareth's hand, grumbling, "What's with all the drugging and the singing, Jareth? Do we have to do this every time we're together?"

Jareth scowled.

"I did not drug you, Sarah, not this time anyway. It is the music box; you opened it and it's having an effect on you. Now, we should leave."

She frowned and pushed away his hands as he reached out for her.

_ "You_ should leave."

_ "Sarah_."

"What?" she snapped.

"Take my hand and come with me now," he ordered seriously.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh sure, _your majesty."_

He huffed to himself. He had preferred it when she was giggling. This after-effect of the drug definitely had no endearing factors. Instead of waiting for Sarah to try and resist him again, Jareth simply picked her up in one swift movement, cradling her in his arms. She started struggling immediately and pouted when she realised that she wasn't going anywhere.

"Put me down," she demanded.

"Enough, Sarah."

"Put me down," she repeated quietly.

He did not reply to her again, but merely walked them out of the room. After all, he was just helping her, and trying to make sure that she could sleep off the effects, even if she didn't see that right now. Taking her back to her room, Jareth placed her on her bed. Sarah didn't lay down though; she just pulled a face at him.

"You should get some sleep," he advised.

"I don't want to sleep," she frowned and tried to get out of bed.

As soon as her legs slipped off of the bed, Jareth pushed them right back.

"Go to sleep, Sarah."

She huffed.

_ "Fine_."

She lay down, but after a little shuffling, was soon sat up again. She started fiddling with the tie on the back of her dress, but wasn't having much success. Apparently her coordination wasn't thriving under this drug.

"What are you doing?" Jareth asked.

"Trying to- get out- of this dress. It's so- awkward," she replied amid attempts to untie the dress.

"Here, let me help you," he offered, reaching out.

But Sarah slapped his hand away quickly.

Undeterred, Jareth rolled his eyes and reasoned, "You'll be here all night if I don't help you, Sarah."

She tried to do it herself a few more times before eventually giving in and allowing the Goblin King to aid her. Even though she was allowing him to help her, it didn't mean that she was happy about it. Sarah couldn't help but grumble about the fact that he had to take her clothes off so that she could be comfortable.

"Don't you look at me," she frowned.

He rolled his eyes as he pulled the dress up and over her head, leaving her arms raised for a moment. Even if he had chosen to look at her, he could have seen nothing more than her back from his position anyway since he was stood behind her.

"I'm not looking at you, Sarah."

Jareth magicked a shirt from nowhere and pulled it over her head, catching Sarah while her arms were still up in the air. _That should suffice for her to sleep in_, he thought.

"Well, _good_; because I am _so_ not in the mood."

He raised his brows as she turned around to face him. He was going to have to remember that she'd said that.

"And you _have_ been in the mood previously?" Jareth pressed, testing to see what she might say.

She put her finger on his lips and made a 'shh'ing sound.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it."

He frowned.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled.

"Can't talk about the Underground. Orderlies like to listen."

"You are _in_ the Underground, Sarah. There aren't any orderlies here," Jareth tried to confirm.

"No, I'm not. Doesn't exist, does it? Don't try and trick me into admitting it so you can give me more pills."

"I'm not giving you any pills, Sarah. It's me, _Jareth_, the Goblin King. I took you out of there, remember?"

"Jareth's not supposed to exist."

He frowned at her. She wasn't even recognising him anymore.

"I _do_ exist, Sarah."

"Sure you do. And I'm the tooth fairy," she said before she abruptly started giggling again.

He rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, if you were Jareth, then you wouldn't let me do this."

Then she leant forward and kissed him. Blinking, a surprised Jareth pulled back from her quite quickly. Even drugged, he hadn't expected that. The two were silent for a moment, until Sarah started giggling again.

"You need some sleep, Sarah," Jareth said calmly, brushing past what had just happened.

"I need some sleep," she repeated.

"Lay down."

"Okay."

Sarah lay down and stared at Jareth.

"Woah," she whispered.

"What?" the Goblin King asked quickly, noting the odd tone to her voice.

"The room's spinning."

She put her hand on his chest.

"Seriously, stop spinning," she laughed.

He frowned. Sarah clearly wasn't going to sleep of her own accord, so he decided to use magic to make her sleep. Jareth cast a small spell over the still-giggling woman lying before him. It didn't take long then for her to drift into a dreamless slumber. He sighed to himself as he left the room. _I should have done that while she was dancing..._

* * *

><p>The next morning, Jareth and Elle stood at Sarah's bedside as she slept. It was obvious that Sarah wasn't going to wake up for a while, and when she did, she probably wasn't going to be feeling her best. Jareth appeared to be somewhat irritated and worried about the situation they found themselves in whereas Elle didn't seem bothered in the slightest. In fact, she seemed almost amused at Sarah's plight.<p>

"She's supposed to be tested today," Jareth muttered.

"She will be," Elle smirked.

"Yes, but she'll be feeling the result of this later and it won't help her task."

Elle shrugged, her eyes not leaving the sleeping form of the woman before them.

"Perhaps she should not have been so curious then."

Jareth frowned and turned to look at the fae next to him.

"About that; that room isn't usually there..." he said slowly.

Elle shrugged again.

"You warned her against snooping around."

Jareth narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, but disobeying that did not call for what happened to her last night. Also, I distinctly recall making sure all of those doors were locked."

She smiled, flashing him a beautiful and deadly grin.

"You must have missed one, she said, amusedly."

He rolled his eyes.

"If this affects her run-"

"It won't. Besides, if she is meant to be what we think she is then she'll find a way."

"You had better hope so," Jareth replied, almost threateningly.

Elle just gave her friend a wink and turned, sauntering out of the room. The Goblin King frowned to himself and continued to watch Sarah. He had his suspicions that Sarah wasn't going to be doing any sort of run of the Labyrinth today, but he couldn't know for certain until she woke up. If this wasn't so important he would just have let her run with a drug hangover. _But it _is_ important_, he thought with a sigh.

Jareth couldn't help but let his mind drift back to the previous night while he watched Sarah sleep. As much as he was intrigued by some of the things that she had said while she was drugged, he didn't understand them. What bothered him the most was that she'd kissed him- though that was only the drug, wasn't it?

He didn't know, but he wasn't going to think too much into that. He sighed again. Sarah was supposed to run the Labyrinth; it was important. And this was not going as Jareth had planned.

* * *

><p>After a while of no movement, Jareth had left Sarah to sleep, but he returned before long. When he walked into her room that time, he found her lying on her bed with her hands pressed over her eyes.<p>

"Good afternoon, Sarah," he said, testing her mood.

She groaned and pulled her hands away just to stare at the ceiling.

"It's afternoon already?" she complained.

He nodded.

"Sleep well?"

Of course, he already knew that she hadn't, she'd just slept a long time. Sleeping may not have done as much good as he had thought that it might. Jareth had waited until now to judge the severity of how she was reacting to the drug she'd stumbled upon. Sarah just responded with another long groan.

"What even happened last night?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, somewhat surprised.

"You don't remember?"

She shook her head, then groaned again. That had been a mistake.

"My head hurts."

"Yes, that's not surprising. Unlike you, I _do_ remember what happened last night- and your head should hurt."

She blinked.

"What... what did I do?"

"Oh, you went snooping around the castle and drugged yourself. The rest is immaterial."

_ For now_, he thought. He wasn't going to bother testing her about that kiss, though he was curious as to whether it had just been a mistake or perhaps something more.

"I drugged myself?" she asked doubtfully.

"I hate drugs... You're sure you didn't- did you?"

He rolled his eyes.

"No. Though I do wish that you would stop associating me with drugs; I only drugged you once."

He was omitting the fact that it _was_ his spell that had drugged her last night- since it _had_ been accidental and effectively her own fault for touching the music box too.

"You also effectively killed me by poisoning a peach," she reasoned.

She damned herself for contradicting him since it hurt her to even think right then. In all honesty, she regretted any unnecessary part of that conversation.

"You agreed to that," he reminded her.

"I know," she whispered, placing a hand on her forehead.

They were silent for a moment and Sarah tried to calm her rising headache.

"Can you walk, Sarah?" Jareth asked after a while.

She turned her head slowly to look at him- even that hurt.

"Walk? I can barely even think right now," she murmured.

He frowned. He knew that this would happen and it was all Elle's fault.

Jareth nodded once and said, "Get some more sleep, Sarah. It'll help you feel better."

* * *

><p>Jareth was angry. Angry that Sarah wasn't going to be able to run the Labyrinth; angry that Elle had allowed her to drug herself on an old spell of his. He was just angry- and unfortunately for Elle, she was going to feel the brunt of it. The Goblin King sought out the rust-haired fae woman to give her a piece of his mind.<p>

He found her looking out of the Labyrinth, surveying the extensive and ever-changing scenery before her with a cursive eye. Elle didn't look away from her careful observation as Jareth entered the room, but she noticed his displeasure immediately. It would be hard to miss.

"Postpone it a day," he ordered.

She raised her brows and turned quickly to him.

"_Postpone_ _it_?"

She had said the words as if they did not quite register, as if the idea was entirely preposterous. Jareth just nodded.

"Do you have any idea how much work that would-"

"Yes," interrupted Jareth.

"I have _every_ idea; but since it is your fault that Sarah is so incapacitated, then you should feel the consequences just as she does."

Elle frowned. The Goblin King was already aiding his Labyrinth's latest runner, and Elle couldn't help but find it more than a little odd.

"That's hardly fair," she said.

"It's _entirely_ fair," he replied, his tone utterly serious.

Elle narrowed her eyes. She knew that there would be no going against him when he was in this humour, so she simply turned and left the room to begin the mammoth task of rearranging Sarah's task. _Would you look at that_, Elle thought. _Sarah did find a way to manage._

The only problem Elle found was that Jareth was a little too invested in Sarah's run for her liking. She only hoped that her friend was not the one more attached in this venture. She shrugged the feeling off however. The final test would prove Sarah's worth- or lack of it, if that was the case.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey again.<strong>

**Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, I've been trying to keep on top of all my stories. Also I should probably apologise, this would have been up last night, but I got distracted by stumbling on a production of William Shakespeare's 'Henry IV Part One' on TV... and I'm a goner as soon as the Henriad is mentioned. 3 So... sorry, lol. :P**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and will let me know what you think! :)**

**Kit xx**


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